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silverstatetreasureboxes · ‎09-09-2021

As the 20th year approaches of 9/11, I think everyone remembers where they were, what they were doing and how they felt. I had the night shift off at the hospital on 9/10 so I was at the Grocery store. I didn't know what happened until I arrived home and my son called, and we watched the events unfold on TV and cried. I then had to wake up my Military husband to tell him.

I know the internet was young as I still had dial up AOL. Ebay was just a "E-baby at that point I believe as I wasn't a member. May I ask some of the members who were selling back 20 years ago, what was it like? Did anything happen on that dreadful day that you can remember with your site? Sales plummeted or increased? Was ebay flooded with patriotic items the following days?

Any thoughts you care to share? ........We will never forget.......

katzrul15 · ‎09-09-2021

My son was born in June of 2001. I worked for a company then called Alexander & Alexander (A&A) a large national broker out of Chicago. We had been purchased in 2000 by Aon.

My son was born with several health issues and we had just gotten out of the hospital with RSV after 11 days. Aon wrote a customer called Pfizer (pharm company in Indiana) and there was a large property renewal meeting with Pfizer, Aon, Factory/Protection Mutual and CNA in the conference room on 105/South tower @ 8:30am.

I did not travel because of my son's recent illness and neither did another guy from our office due to a last minute flight change - they sent a guy from Chicago to fly to NY and we were all on a conference call when the North tower (we knew people worked worked for Marsh who used to work for us at A&A) was hit. I was on my sofa watching the Today show holding my son and waiting for the "meeting" to start as we had a "pre-meeting Agenda run-down" and we were just all chatting and laughing about being a new Mom and no sleep and they were all telling me how much it would change my life. We were just being goofy, waiting for a guy to join the meeting that was running late.

I was on the conference call and looped in at my home from our local office and the line went dead. There were something like 29 people in that conference room and only 2 made it out alive. None of the Aon people made it out and the risk mgr for Pfizer did not either. I believe the 2 guys who did were loss control types and they knew how best to assess the risks and get out.

For 3 days we thought the guy from Aon Chicago had perished. His plane was diverted to Newark, NJ. He never made it to NY. It was the greatest relief to know he made it back to our office. The guy that was late, was stuck on a train they stopped when the first tower was hit evidently.

For a couple of months my office covered claims and customer support for the NY offices. They lost over 170 people that day and many more retired, had PTSD and never returned. There was a guy I dealt with all the time with Tokyo Marine container losses in Taipei and he was about to retire and did not make it out - he was trying to exit the building when it collapsed, I guess. A week after 9/11, we received a baby gift from him and his wife that had been mailed before 9/11 and joking about how he was about to retire and I just had a baby at 37 and would never be able to retire.

I left Aon in November of that same year. It was just too much to deal with. There were so many claims from people who would never work again and so much tragedy. Aon insured both Airlines that were used in the attacks & insured several of the buildings at WTC plaza, etc.

I don't want us to ever forget, but have little desire to ever watch the footage again, etc. I was watching the TV live when it hit the South tower (Aon's tower). Could not believe what I was seeing. Loaded up my son and went to my office and we all sat for hours in the conference room watching the TV, bawling and waiting for word that never came. It was over 2 weeks before we had a really rough head count.

You are correct about it being our "JFK". I know where I was when Elvis died, The Shuttle Blew Up with the Teacher onboard, Lennon was killed and when the South tower of the WTC was hit.

(sorry they moved your thread, we should never forget so we do not repeat history)

....... "The Ranger isn't gonna like it Yogi"......... Boo-Boo knew what he was talking about!

Posting ID Only.......
Yes, I have no Bananas, only Flamethrowers.......

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vintagecraze50 · ‎09-09-2021

Was working with teens as a counselor and the TV was on in the group room. The whole place just stopped functioning for at least an hour with everybody gawking at the TV. I did not sell here then. I remember for weeks walking around outside and wondering when the next bomb was going to hit. Maybe here?

ckimodog · ‎09-09-2021

I had just gotten up that morning, turned on the TV and saw that the first tower had been hit. Within minutes the second tower went into flames. I was stunned, shocked and shaken. I called my friend who lived in NYC and worked for NBC Sports, as I was a contract photographer for them at the time...thank God he was unable to get to the city from Long Island as they shut all the bridges down from other Burroughs. My dad who served in the Marines for 30+ years tried to re-enlist at 69 years old. Bless him and all for their patriotism and bless all the first responders, medical teams and staffs who diligently worked through that day of horrors and the months after...Never forget. ♥

bigdeals.etc · ‎09-09-2021

I had JUST gotten on a plane coming home from a vacation. I recall the flight was overbooked and the airline offered a pretty good perk to give up your seat and get a flight the next day. We were about to take that offer, but decided to just come home. It was so unreal when we heard as we landed. Never have I ever been so glad to be home at that moment... able to see my loved ones.

My heart goes out to the ones who weren't as lucky.

silverstatetreasureboxes · ‎09-09-2021

I think we all did. Wow I bet those teens were just stunned? You know this was our JFK as most of us don't remember Kennedy being killed.

Thank you for sharing.

silverstatetreasureboxes · ‎09-09-2021

Amazing story, as well as your amazing father. I worked with a nurse who had family blocks from the trade Center and she couldn't work, she was frantic because she couldn't reach them. It was horrible to see her like that and nothing we could do to calm her down.

Thank you for sharing your story.

ckimodog · ‎09-09-2021

Thank YOU....♥

kensgiftshop · ‎09-09-2021

@silverstatetreasureboxes

I wasn't on Ebay then, but selling items on my own site and I went from making $200 to $300 a day down to nothing.

That's a day I'll never forget.

Have a great day

lacemaker3 · ‎09-09-2021

I was driving to a supplier's facility for a review meeting. I'm sure I had the radio on, but I didn't hear anything about what had happened until I arrived. We had a minutes silence at the beginning of the meeting, which I was running. After that I had vacation booked, and I headed home to meet my friend.

My friend was driving down from up-state to my house. She was the senior lawyer who worked for a supreme court judge in our state. We had tickets at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, and reservations at a B&B, and were due to drive there that day. When I got home, she was waiting in my driveway. Her first words were "Did you hear?"

"Yes, I did. Now what do we do?" I replied. We went into my house, and got online to find out what was going on. Was the border closed? Should we cancel our trip? From what we could find out, all flights were cancelled, but the land border was open. We talked it over, and we felt that if we cancelled, then they would have won. We didn't want to let that happen. So we decided, let's go to the bridge, and we'll find out if we can go or not.

When we got there, the line ups were very long, but the border wasn't closed. We got through eventually, and we drove on to Stratford. At the first play, one of the oldest actors made a speech about the horror before the play started, and held a minute of silence. Then the play went on. We were able to attend all the plays we had planned to, plus we got cancellation tickets for the only play in the series that we hadn't been able to get advance tickets for. So we were able to see the entire series of Shakespeare's History plays.

A couple of days later, we had to come home while the situation was still very unsettled. We talked about it, and decided to cross the border at night, when hopefully it wouldn't be as busy. We planned ahead, had a full tank of gas, and food and drink in the car in case we had a long wait. I don't think it was anywhere near as bad as we thought it might be.

After I got home, I found out that my sister and brother-in-law had been at the airport, about to fly to a conference. They weren't able to go, but thank goodness they weren't in the air when it happened. Their flight was cancelled, and they just went back home.

There were many flights in the air over the Atlantic on their way to North America when the horror happened. Most of them couldn't turn back; they didn't have enough fuel. Their flight plans were cancelled, and they had to put down at the first dry land they could reach: that was Gander, Newfoundland. This is a small town on the extreme east of Canada. It has an international airport because it's on the shortest distance flight from Europe to NA. The airport there was overwhelmed, and there were nowhere near enough hotel rooms available for all the stranded passengers.

People in Gander, Newfoundland opened their houses, drove to the airport, took people in, and fed them. The welcoming reaction was a reminder of how good people can be to each other, when it really counts.

That's what I remember.

terrycece62 · ‎09-09-2021

I was at work working as a receptionist in Silver Spring MD we were not allowed to have TV/ radio but was told by warehouse of the attacks shortly after it happened.

Not selling or even on eBay at that time

The most I can remember of that day is feeling that my coworkers were all in shock and a being located in the metro dc area that maybe another bomb was coming

I was scared everyone was scared and once we received word of the attack the couple rooms that had radios turned them (the radio silence was lifted for the next few days

.

I recall the atmosphere was filled with fear but also filled with more kindness and feeling of togetherness because we were all going through similar experiences

We had a IT guy that had moved from NYC and he lost a lot of friends ex-workers family /friends that has died or suffered loss.

Also some losses in connections between the Pentagon and family/friends and neighbors working at the Pentagon. I remember that the' Pentagon' metro stop was closed down for a very long time

I remember feeling very unsafe for a very long time afterward.

But also very grateful just to be alive and that my family were not near either attach

1grandmashope_1 · ‎09-09-2021

@silverstatetreasureboxes

Spilled my coffee and called my husband to come home from work. He had gone in at 5 am.

When he got home we sat and cried and could not turn off the TV.

Can't imagine living with that constant fear like so many do. Heartbroken.

With love and hope for all,

Grandma

asset_liquidators · ‎09-09-2021

I was on ebay back then. Sold strictly laptops on here in those days (still sell them but not in those quantities and I never sell them on ebay). I remember it very clearly. I was in the front room of my home which is where I worked out of at the time. Sitting amongst approximately 2000 laptops I was on the coach working on laptops set up on the table in front of me. I had another shipment of laptops coming on 9-20-01 so I was in a zone (a little stressed) trying to get as much done as possible and did not have the TV on as I usually did.

My father in law called me and told me a plane hit one of the towers and to turn on the TV. I am thinking a little two-seater or maybe twin engine plane so my reaction to him was more of an "oh wow" as I was turning on the TV. Then I see it is a passenger jet and my reaction instantly changed to "OH WOW!!"

Talking on the phone and still thinking this was just an unfortunate accident, then next plane hit and the whole world changed forever.

Still feels like it was just a couple years ago. It is hard to believe two decades have passed.

I had no sales that day because everything was auctions back then and I didn't end auctions on Tuesdays so I can't attest to the affect it had on sales.

silverstatetreasureboxes · ‎09-09-2021

Just heart touching stories from all, I'm just sad this topic got pulled down the basement. Nice to hear from all of you and those recollections from being in the air at the time or just drinking coffee at the table. I think we all thought it had to be a pilot error with the 1st plane, and like a poster stated " when we witnessed the second one, life changed". While I was watching it and talking to my son ( who is a major history buff) he said right away that it was Osama bin Laden.

I was sorting thru a large jar of enamel pins yesterday to sell when I ran across an originally issued 9-11-01 button, I will wear that tomorrow at the thrift.

When I resumed my night shift 2 days after 9/11, rumors were running around that a particular ( middle eastern) Doctor had said " it's about time". Seriously, this Doctor was a genius in my book and he appeared at my desk very distracted about these horrible rumors. I went up to him and pinned my rhinestone flag pin on his lab coat, he looked at me and had tears in his eyes. He said " he loves this country". I knew he did just the way he treated his patients and us nurses. I gave him a hug and said " I love it too Doctor".

katzrul15 · ‎09-09-2021