Bonus Day has come and gone at top Wall Street firms, and in the end, there weren’t a lot of surprises in aggregate.

Cash bonuses are far lower this year, either capped or downright cut. Stock and options awards weren’t enough to salve the pain. At the personal level, there may have been some nasty surprises. Most employees walked into their meeting with reduced expectations.

At Goldman Sachs, some bankers and traders “learned they’re taking home a big goose-egg. Some partners’ total pay was slashed by approximately half, while some employees in its fixed income trading unit saw their total pay reduced by as much as 60 percent….some bankers are doubly miffed because their stock awards are priced as of the close of trading Thursday, and Goldman’s stock has been on the rise in the past couple of days, meaning the bankers won’t get the cheaper strike price,” according to Deal Journal.

Variations on this theme played out all over the Street. One FICC trader told CNBC: "It's a bloodbath. People are trying to put on a strong face but there are a lot of clenched jaws."

Other choice quotes: "One girl was actually crying, I think.” And another: "My number was so low I thought I was fired. My director had to convince me that the firm still wants me to stick around.”

In the end, I doubt the reports that say this will encourage people to leave their jobs--unless they are convinced that their company is incapable of a rebound in 2012.

For more:
- here’s the CNBC article
- here’s the Deal Journal article

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