story10606.xml

story10606.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-05-17

I was at work at our call center (I work for the State of Missouri as a Claims Technician for unemployment benefits).

Our team was assigned to the ACD line that week, which meant that we were taking unemployment claims and answering questions from claimants regarding their unemployment benefits.

I was going to the printer to get a copy of a statement a claimant gave me about his separation from his former employer when my supervisor, Dona, told me that two airplanes had hit the World Trade Center in New York. I guess that if I had heard that one plane had hit the Trade Center I would have thought that it was a very bad accident. When I heard that it was two planes that hit the towers, I thought "terrorist attack" right then and there. I remembered the news stories back in the 1990's when the Trade Center had a bomb explode in the basement which killed six people.

I guess it was about 10:00 a.m. when one of my co-workers shouted that a plane had hit the Pentagon! The manager plugged in the office television. People were trying to get news over the Internet. About 15 minutes after we heard about the Pentagon somebody else shouted that a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania.

Most of us could not go and watch TV because the phone calls kept on coming from the claimants. I was suprised that nobody that I talked to on the telephone mentioned anything about the attacks even though I could hear the televisions they had on in the background talking about the attacks. I guess, even with an attack of this magnitude, people still had to file unemployment claims.

I called my husband right after I had heard the news and told him to turn on the TV. I asked him what was going on. He could not believe what he was seeing on TV.

During my break I went over to our TV and watched coverage. I was afraid that airplanes were still in the air and could attack here! On the TV they were saying how there could be up to 50,000 people working and visiting the Towers on any particular day. I then heard that all of the airplanes were being made to land. I saw the first tower fall. To this day (May 17, 2004) I still can't believe that both buildings fell. The 2nd tower fell while I was back at my desk, working.

I saw more coverage during my lunch and afternoon break. I went home and watched TV. I later went for a walk and the church near where I walk had a service for the victims of the attacks.

Now, I believe that everybody should go on with their lives (because somebody said if you don't go about your lives, then the terrorists wins), but I still have a fear that something else will happen. I hope to God it does not.