Please just use your brain

[CyberLurch]

What the (expletive deleted) is WRONG with people? I've heard so many stories about self-absorbed people that day. And it's hard to imagine, but in the nearly two decades since, people have gotten WORSE. People don't just wallow in apathy anymore, they display it for all to see

There are days I can't believe I once stood to defend this country.

[Trixie]

I'm glad I wasn't working at the time. Last minute Christmas shoppers are bad enough.
"Um, like I don't care that the world is going through a major crisis right now but how would that affect my package? UGH! So rude!"

[Racket_Man]

What the (expletive deleted) is WRONG with people? I've heard so many stories about self-absorbed people that day. And it's hard to imagine, but in the nearly two decades since, people have gotten WORSE. People don't just wallow in apathy anymore, they display it for all to see

There are days I can't believe I once stood to defend this country.

I seem to remember a user here Ace Of Diamonds (???) who worked in NYC near the towers and was at work when shit went down. He decided to walk home or out of the area. I remember him telling a story about some entitled ass he encountered at a convience store or quick service place that had closed for the day (???). The guy was just being an over the top ass.

[protege]

THIS....was his hill to die on for that day?

Yep, that's what he lost his mind over. Wasn't the first time either. About the same time, he had to send some "important" paperwork when he was on vacation. From what I understand, he was at some NYC-based hotel. Rather than find the local DHL/overnight/Mailboxes Etc. branch and do it himself...he handed the completed envelope (he'd raided our supply closet before he left) to a *busboy* and insisted the guy take care of it. Read that bit again--he gave the "important" envelope to a random hotel employee to mail...and then lost his mind when it didn't get delivered. I mean, it's not like that employee had their actual job to do First thing I hear in the morning, after the boss returned, was him calling up the hotel, ripping into the manager, and demanding that the guy get fired. Naturally, the hotel told him what he could do with himself

[Minflick]

There are 3 big events I have a mental picture of where I was when I heard the news:
President Kennedy had been shot and killed
President Reagan had been shot and not killed
9/11 1st airplane to hit the WTT

[notalwaysright]

9/11 is the only tragic event I have a memory of the whole day. Though I do clearly remember seeing footage come in of the tsunami in Japan. It wasn't live, since I believe I would have been seeing it the morning after (our time) and at first there weren't many videos online, but I remember how shocked I felt. I'd been in Japan, and it was hard to imagine those towns being reduced to nothing so easily.

On that note, I used to work with a girl who was there in 2011. She was in high school on base since her parents were military. She remembers it differently. Her and her classmates were very frustrated that there phones weren't working I think due to high usage during that time.

[protege]

Her and her classmates were very frustrated that there phones weren't working I think due to high usage during that time.

That's pretty much what happened. Phone lines were packed with calls, or down in some areas. I remember my mom saying that she couldn't reach my cousin in DC. She lived on Capitol Hill...and there were reports of carbombs going off about the time the Pentagon got hit.

I will never forget 9/11, as I knew people who were killed. One of the planes landed in their offices I will never forget the looks of sheer terror on the faces of people crammed into city buses, as they were being evacuated; the massive detours due to Pittsburgh's many bridges being closed for inspection; watching the towers come down on the TV inside the Mazda dealer's service area...or setting a new land speed record getting home that day

[Mental_Mouse]

I had a friend who got out of one of the smaller buildings in the complex on 9/11. In general anytime there's a disaster or crisis happening, forget about voice calls and use texts.

[notalwaysright]

I'm sure cell coverage was down during 9/11, for sure. My CW I was talking about was actually complaining about not being able to use her cell phone on March 11 2011, the day of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Granted, she was waaaay down in Okinawa, pretty far from the affected areas, but... Still. She was basically complaining she couldn't text her friends while on the bus home from school. And it's not like she didn't know what was going on, she knew.

[csquared]

Remember, 9/11 was almost 18 years ago. I don't think my cellphone had texting. I still carried a pager. My cellphone was worthless. The fact that I was roaming didn't help my priority for a circuit. Spent a good chunk of the morning looking for payphones.

Also, TWC was a MAJOR telco cross connect. When the South Tower collapsed, NYC lost over 20% of its telco capacity.

[Jetfire]

Also, TWC was a MAJOR telco cross connect. When the South Tower collapsed, NYC lost over 20% of its telco capacity.

Just repeating nth hand stories; but yeah I heard that was the case. 9/11 was such an Out of Context problem for NYC, that it exposed a lot of flaws in their disaster preparedness plans. Plans that counted on the WTC being intact and functioning basically so it could be used as a base, or it could be a communication and transport hub and so forth.

When the towers went down, it tore a huge hole in NYC's telecommunication web, on a day when that web was put under an unprecedented amount of strain. It's incredible that it held together as well as it did considering.

[Mental_Mouse]

Not to mention, I was watching TV at the time -- I didn't know why my show had just cut off until someone called me to tell me what was going on.

[Sparklyturtle]

My military husband and I were at home. He'd just gotten home from Saudi Arabia on September 9, and had some time off afterward, so I'd taken a week off as well. The first thing we heard about what had happened was that the assistant director of the department I worked for called to verify my home phone number for an emergency recall roster. We were in California, so quite far from everything that was happening, but one of my co-workers, who was on his honeymoon and was visiting family in Washington D.C. didn't get back for a month.