Man, I am semi-embarrassed to admit this, but I really didn’t experience 9/11. I live just outside of DC, in Montgomery County, MD.
On that day, I was working in a real estate office as an office manager. The only two official employees were my boss and myself. The sales staff never had to clock in, so they usually never came to the office until after lunch. My boss usually came in around, say 10 or 1030 am, because she always stayed late to help the sales staff. I got to work at 8 am. When I got there, I logged into my computer (as this was my method of clocking in and checking in with the corporate office for my timecard) and started to do my daily routine around the office. This means running around, checking the copiers, distributing faxes, data entry for newly arrived contracts, checking printers and what not. General office stuff.
Our office had just opened in August, meaning we were still scheduling to have contractors install phones, internet connections, etc., and we were still building our sales staff as well, so we didn’t have anybody else in the office besides just li’l old me. It’s not like we had a TV or sales staff had moved personal items like radios and what not into the office.
(I don’t remember the actual time.) Sometime after the first plane hit the first tower, my boss calls the office.
The conversation went something like this:
Boss: “What are you doing at work?”
UBW: “It’s Tuesday. I always work on Tuesday.”
Boss: “Haven’t you heard what’s going on?”
UBW: “No. What are you talking about?”
(The second plane hits the second tower while we’re on the phone.)
Boss: “Oh my God…” and she hangs up. I still have no clue what’s going on.
Now, my boss was a very emotional person, and local news coverage is very panic prone. Anytime anything happens, all the local channels are all over it. Like when the stop lights malfunction in DC all of the news channels start talking about “gridlock”. So while I don’t know what’s going on, I figure somebody ran over a squirrel or something on her route to work. I go about my job and it’s business as usual.
I usually take my lunch approx. 1 PM. There’s still nobody else in the office. I turn on the office voicemail and walk across the street to the mall to get lunch. When I get to the mall, I find they have locked the doors. ??? They NEVER lock the doors. I’ve wandered into the mall well after closing and the doors are never locked. They’re always open 24/7, for security people, cleaning staff and deliveries and whatever else they do at the mall after hours.
So I still don’t know what’s going on. I walk back to the office plaza where my office is located and want to go to the deli three doors down. They’re closed as well. ???
I go back to my office and jump on my computer to see what I can get delivered. This is the first time I have been on the internet on my computer, except for my first daily login and the contract entry software program. As I start searching for nearby delivery places, I start to see the news about all the day’s events. NOW, I am just stunned. After a few articles, I lock the office door and put a sign on the door saying if you need me that I’ll be at the Myer-Emco store a few doors down. I’m watching the news over there now because I can’t read the news fast enough. And I start to watch the video replays.
About an hour later, my boss comes into the store and she offers to take me to lunch. We found a place that was still open and we talk about what’s going on. She’s had all morning to sort it out, but I’m still sort of desensitized by the initial shock of hearing what has happened. She’s all yap yap yap about what happened, but I’m still trying to figure it out while watching the TV in the restaurant and (rudely) only halfway listening to her.
I won’t bother to detail my emotions for the rest of the day, because I was really angry and lost. But that’s how I spent my morning that day. It was not a good day.