Remembering
I remember 9/11/2001. I was in Charlotte, rolling out the document management system with the Director of AP (he was probably only a Manager at the time) for their AP staff. It was my first time to Charlotte. We flew in on Sunday, 9/9 and we were scheduled to fly out on Tuesday, 9/11.
I was sitting at someone's desk working on their computer when I heard a voice say, "A plane just hit the World Trade Center." I thought that was odd, but didn't react to it. Then I heard another voice say, "I can't get CNN's website to come up. Have you done something?" That sounded a little more odd. I tried to pull up CNN.com for myself - no response. That's when I knew something was going on. If CNN's site was overwhelmed, it was big.
I went into a conference room where other people had gathered to watch tv. I just missed the plane hitting the second tower. I saw both towers fall. I looked at my traveling companion and said, "I don't think we're flying home today." Everything was chaos. We eventually went to lunch. I did not want to be there. In Charlotte. With people I barely knew. At TGI Friday's.
We were able to secure a rental car. My coworker drove the whole way back. We listened to AM news stations for the entire trip. I dropped him off at his house and then took the rental car with me to my house. There were people from our office in Raleigh that took over the rental car and drove it back to North Carolina the next day. The CEO's assistant dropped me off at the airport to retrieve my car.
A little over two months later, on 11/9/2001 (love the irony), my company laid off 10% of our employees. We lost two people from our department, but I was safe.
Almost one month before the 5 year anniversary of that date, I was not so fortunate. I was laid off on 8/18/2006.
Exactly five years later on 9/11/2006, I started a consulting position with a new company. A company I had never heard of until about a year ago. A company that is only 16 miles from my current home. A company that needs exactly the skillset that I possess. A company that may (or may not, but I'm hoping for the may) eventually hire me to do part-time work.
I was sitting at someone's desk working on their computer when I heard a voice say, "A plane just hit the World Trade Center." I thought that was odd, but didn't react to it. Then I heard another voice say, "I can't get CNN's website to come up. Have you done something?" That sounded a little more odd. I tried to pull up CNN.com for myself - no response. That's when I knew something was going on. If CNN's site was overwhelmed, it was big.
I went into a conference room where other people had gathered to watch tv. I just missed the plane hitting the second tower. I saw both towers fall. I looked at my traveling companion and said, "I don't think we're flying home today." Everything was chaos. We eventually went to lunch. I did not want to be there. In Charlotte. With people I barely knew. At TGI Friday's.
We were able to secure a rental car. My coworker drove the whole way back. We listened to AM news stations for the entire trip. I dropped him off at his house and then took the rental car with me to my house. There were people from our office in Raleigh that took over the rental car and drove it back to North Carolina the next day. The CEO's assistant dropped me off at the airport to retrieve my car.
A little over two months later, on 11/9/2001 (love the irony), my company laid off 10% of our employees. We lost two people from our department, but I was safe.
Almost one month before the 5 year anniversary of that date, I was not so fortunate. I was laid off on 8/18/2006.
Exactly five years later on 9/11/2006, I started a consulting position with a new company. A company I had never heard of until about a year ago. A company that is only 16 miles from my current home. A company that needs exactly the skillset that I possess. A company that may (or may not, but I'm hoping for the may) eventually hire me to do part-time work.
2 Comments:
Sounds like you got a good deal there. 16 miles is a sweet drive.
Congrats.
Life is odd, huh?
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