Remembering the worst day I've ever had at work

[Dragon_Dreamer]

I was going through old threads, and I found this one: http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=18737 Yes, I realize it's ancient, and I don't want to resurrect it. But, it did remind me of the day I nearly lost every shred of hope for humanity.

UPS Technical Support, 1st level, Las Vegas, 6am on September 11th, 2001, two hours into a 4am shift.

When we heard the disaster happened, we were all in shock. The managers quickly setup a TV in the breakroom, and allowed everyone extra breaks if they wanted to watch what was going on, needed a break from the phones, or needed to call loved ones. They helped save the day and our sanity.

Many of the callers, on the other hand...

Many, MANY times that day, I heard irate people SCREAMING at me, demanding to know if their packages would make it from the WTC, from New York, why couldn't they call New York, and would their package make it TO the WTC.

Many could not understand that the WTC no longer existed. When informed why we could not tell them, half said they knew that but still wanted to know about their precious packages, the other half (the ones who wanted to reach people in New York) had NO clue.

At least three people DEMANDED to know what WE as a company, were doing to help, and if our drivers were "helping the victims." I did hear that some drivers did indeed deliver water and supplies donated by the local warehouses and businesses, but some of these callers sounded like we were scum if EVERY driver in the tri-state area wasn't doing so.

We even had one guy who kept calling repeatedly, claiming in a thick accent that he was one of our drivers, and refusing to give a badge number, all the while demanding delivery information. No idea what he was after, we eventually were instructed to end all calls with him.

To be called a because I could not tell someone if their *package* near the WTC was safe... I ended up going home and crying. Moreso after learning that a dear friend was one of the firemen who was killed... RIP Liam.

That day was a huge part of the reason why I left Vegas and came home to Pennsylvania a few months later. Especially since the calls continued for a couple weeks afterward, as people unable to transmit shipping data (due to busy lines in NYC, so many failed attempts and it locks you out) started getting angrier and angrier that they could only keep shipping with 2nd level's help. (2nd level could unlock their shipping program.)

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest.

[Hellzar]

I am sorry you had to go through that and that you lost a friend. *hug*.

I still remember being in my high school biology class when my teachers phone rang he went to answer it, of course the class began to talk and get loud he came in turned on the tv to the news right when they had the cameras on the towers the whole class went dead silent.

[calulu]

I'm sorry you had to go through that! You'd think at some point they might consider switching off the incoming calls when they all started to go crazy sideways.

It was one of my worst days too and not because clueless idiots were yelling at me about their packages. My husband works on Capital Hill and he disappeared for six long hours. Cell phone service was down. We couldn't call in or out of DC. They stopped the Metro and the commuter trains and reporters were stating that planes had been spotted on the way to the Capital Bldg. Took my husband six hours to get home. I was sitting on my sofa crying watching thousands of federal workers walking out of the city. Nightmare day. We lost two friends and neighbors on the plane that hit the Pentagon and a couple others we knew well inside the Pentagon as well as a few more in the WTC.

[chapookie]

I'm sure many of us lost faith in humanity that day.

I was staving off angry airline passengers in a NYC area airport. For every 100 that were in shock, crying, and scared, there were at least 2 SCs. Maybe it was their way of dealing with the stress or they were in denial but either way, it was uncalled for. I mastered the ice stare that day. It was also the first time I realized most people believe we're robots.

People screaming about vacations ruined or business meetings in Seattle... Um, hi? Can you not see those buildings burning in the skyline? There are thousands of people who will never have a vacation with their loved one(s) again. Somehow, it was all my or my employer's fault. I can only hope that once they grasped the reality of the situation, they felt bad for the way they'd been acting.

Some co-workers who were inflight over the Atlantic were diverted to Canada for days on end with a wide body full of passengers. Some of their stories make me want to throw up. I wish I could remember some specific ones I have but everything's quite the blur now. I keep that day bottled up inside so, sorry for my mini-rant. It's always therapeutic to hear jerky 9/11 customer stories from outside the airline realm - I think the people with their precious cargo takes the cake. If the cargo wasn't a human being, let it go!

I am fortunate to not have lost anyone that day, but I have friends who did and I still feel very deeply for everyone's losses.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Sounds like an SC my brother told me about on 7/7, date of the London tube bombing. He was screaming and shouting, demanding to know why the tube was closed and when it would be reopened. This was after there had been several announcements etc telling people about the disaster; and this guy was still bitching. -.-

Who cares about your sodding meeting, people have FUCKING WELL DIED. Oh brave new world, that has such people in it.

[tropicsgoddess]

Wow, some people are real fucking assholes. Apparently their stinkin' packages are more important to them than knowing that so many people lost loved ones and that the country was under attack. Sorry about your friend.

[GroceryGIrl]

It's sad to see that a tragedy of that magnitude was nothing more than an inconvenience to many selfish people who only cared about getting on with their own day.

[Dragon_Dreamer]

It helps to know that he died helping others escape. From what we heard, he just kept going back in for people, until he just didn't come out.

[chapookie]

The world lost a lot of good people that day. The thought of people acting selflessly like your friend did is the only reason I didn't lose all hope for human kind

[calulu]

It's sad to see that a tragedy of that magnitude was nothing more than an inconvenience to many selfish people who only cared about getting on with their own day.

I stopped talking to a good friend that day because she called me during the middle of this when I was waiting to hear something/anything about my husband and the Capital Bldg. The world is turned upside down, thousands are dying/dead, I'm freaking out and she's whining about her love life. To this day she doesn't get it.

[MrsEclipse]

I was in 9th grade on 9/11 and no one at my school would tell us what was going on. When school was back in session they made a token effort to explain, and then it was back to business. It was actually much, much later until I really understood the full severity of what had happened that day.

The thing is, I look at these SC stories on 9/11 and think I should loose faith in humanity... but all I see is the fireman who kept going in for more people until he didn't come back. I can't loose faith in humanity.

Even in the Holocaust, when millions were treated inhumanely, worse than cockroaches, and murdered for no decent reason... there are stories of people in the camps comforting each other, delivering messages when they could move around even though the asker couldn't offer anything in return, even a piece of bread, and if the message-deliver was caught it would mean death. It's too easy to see the Nazis and think how evil the world can be, but even in the most horrible and ungodly of circumstances, remember that love always shines through somehow. I promise it does.

[Kheldarson]

I was in 10th grade when it happened. My grade group at the Governor's School was headed into the auditorium when it happened. I don't think there was a TV off in that school after that. The car ride back to my home school was quiet. And at home school, sure, we tried to do work, but we were all watching the TV.

I don't think I actually calmed down at all until I was able to get home and found out my grandparents and aunt and uncle were okay. They lived in the Fairfax area.

But I do remember some people asking why we should care and immediately getting hushed down by everyone in the class.

[LadyAndreca]

I was a college sophomore and going to a college located on a bluff on the Hudson River--I watched it all happen from about two miles away. I can't lose my faith in humanity when so many people turned up at the ferry when the dropoff point switched from Jersey City to Hoboken, just wanting to try to help, that the police had to take time to sort out the huge crowd of volunteers! (Can you speak a foreign language? Go over there. Current first aid certification? Go over there. Everyone else, stand by in an orderly fashion and do exactly what we say.)

I'm not a native New Yorker, but that night I felt and understood the pride they have in their city.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I live in Northern Virginia. I was off work on 9/11, and slept in, as is my wont on my days off. I came downstairs late in the morning, and my mother looks up at me from the TV and says, "We may be going to war." I go to look at the TV and see a picture of the WTC burning.

My sister was going to Thomas Jefferson High School at the time, which isn't too far from the Pentagon. Some students who were outside for gym class that morning apparently heard the plane crash into it.

The rest of the week at work was kind of weird. A lot of people were very... quiet and disconnected, CWs and customers alike. I don't remember any suck, however.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I also live in Northern Virginia. I was at work a mile from the Pentagon when it happened. No one wanted to take resposibility for telling us to leave the building, so one of the supervisors suggested we take a stroll outside. One of the directors of the agancy was heard to remark that the employees shouldn't be leaving yet because he hadn't authorized it. The scariest thing I heard outside was when some fighter jets flew overhead and someone remarked, "Oh my God, they're flying air cover over DC."