"That" Day

I don't have a big, scary "where I was" story for September 11th, 2001.

I was getting ready for work.  I saw the reports on TV.  I continued to get ready for work because I didn't want to watch the events unfold in a loop all day (as they did ... for several days).  Also what was being shown wasn't happening anywhere close to me.  I was perfectly safe.

I drove my 3-mile non-bridge/tunnel commute and parked my car in a largely-empty parking lot.  I got to my desk, turned on my computer and listened to my voicemail - nothing dramatic was waiting for me.  I checked in with my parents and my sister (just to let them know I'd gone to work) and eventually would start calling sales team members, to see where they were and how they were doing and, mostly, to get them home as safely and easily as possible.

Having come from a large company, my boss and I had business practices that, as it turned out, came in real handy that day.  We had current cell phone numbers *and* at least one emergency contact number of a family member for each individual on our payroll.  Human Resources fought us for it, saying it was unnecessary and an invasion of privacy.  We countered that since we were paying for that cell phone, we had every right to cross-check the number to ensure we weren't being double-billed.  As for the additional contact number, cell phones frequently got lost or were left uncharged and service areas were NOT nation-wide.  Since I was in charge of keeping the 48-page org chart up-to-date (due to being the most advanced user of the application used to create it), I knew who we employed and who they reported to, even if they weren't in my department.

I remember sending out a blast email - without checking with management - to everyone who was a supervisor, saying (essentially) "here are the names and numbers of those who report to you.  Make contact with them to confirm their safety and location and send me an update by Noon PST."  I didn't have a plan as to what I'd do if anyone didn't get back to me, but it turned out to not be necessary.  Responses flooded in.  "All of Marketing is accounted for".  "Financial Services checking in as alright".  "IT has checked in."  "Human Resources is here".  I'd learn later that day that our CEO was sent this info from the head of HR, with no indication that she wasn't the originator of the effort.  I didn't care for her taking credit but I wasn't surprised by it.  (I learned later in the week that my own boss was forwarding the messages - with my action-to-be-taken request email - to the same CEO so, as it turned out, he knew about the background anyway.  I tried not to feel too smug about that when the head of HR was asked to leave later in the month.)

The biggest, most spread out team was mine ... Sales.  We had four regions and more than 50 team members.  The receptionist and I broke up the list and, starting with the East Coast, began dialing.  We'd get busy signals, or no answers, or recordings of "your call is unable to be completed at this time".  We had a travel report as to who was booked on which plane to be in what city to meet with whatever customer and started tracking our team that way.

Around lunch time, our management ordered out for lunch for everyone there who wanted to stay and help with locating staff.  Whoever wanted to go home was free to do so.  Most stayed because, I suspect, they didn't want to stare at the TV all day.  They wanted to DO something ... anything.  Staff that had never had the need to book travel were renting cars in cities everywhere to ensure that SOME kind of transportation would be available.  We didn't realize air travel would be halted, but we weren't having any luck getting through to re-route existing itineraries so we figured we'd just eat that cost if necessary and at least have a car waiting as a "last resort".

We accounted for all of our employees and, as luck would have it, renting the cars turned out to be a good move.  In the weeks to come, I'd see receipts with notes like "only reimburse 1/2 the gas since the guy we caught up with in Cleveland paid 1/2".  I don't think any life-long friendships were made in those times, but I know that strangers were kinder, quieter and a little more comforting in the weeks that followed.  I remember the sudden appearance of American flags ...a LOT of American Flags.

It's hard to believe that was a decade ago.  I'm glad I was a West-Coaster at the time, because it felt so removed and far away.  I'm glad I was younger when it happened ... that I had the patience and naivety to feel so safe and measured ... as though I'd done something like that before.

Today, I'm an East-Coaster.  I still haven't seen NYC.  I don't know that I need to.  I don't wanna lose that "so far away from me" feeling.