I used to work in World Trade Center 1.
I'm telling this story for the first time.
I worked there back in the day of the dot com boom and when telecom was the big thing. Back when salespeople still went door to door vs. calling or emailing.
I was in telecom sales and worked IN the WTC- that meant I had easy access to hundreds if not thousands of businesses that our competitors didn't. (Ever since the '93 attack on the WTC you had to either have a security card to get in the building showing you worked there or they'd have to call up and verify that you had an appointment with someone and give you a temporary card. In other words, the competition couldn't just walk in and knock on doors like they could other buildings, so they mostly stayed away.)
Given that we had an 'edge' in a highly competitive industry, I was ordered to prospect the entire building- every floor, every door- as the saying goes. And that's exactly what I did.
Still to this day when I see the video of that building falling I think of all those faces of all those people that I met.
It was hard work (100 or so floors!) but I enjoyed every minute of it.
I met people from all over the world who were just there to do a day's work, just like I was. People who kindly took time to chat with me (I was never the pushy kind of salesperson and always had a friendly approach) to see if there was an opportunity to do business together.
Some eventually became clients. Some didn't. Some liked my sales style and tried to recruit me. Some just made me laugh. Some tried to ask me out (that happens in outside sales). Some became acquantainces. Some remembered me when we were outside on a smoke break and came over just to say hello. Some mentored me on business and convinced me that I had even more potential that I thought I had. Some were toughened New Yorker's who rushed me out and didn't have time, but you know what? At the end of the day, even they mean a lot to me because they made me a better salesperson. Each one taught me something.
I rarely speak of working in the WTC but when I do the first question I usually get is if I knew anyone who died there. That's hard to answer.
I don't even remember all of their names- how could I? And even the faces are starting to blur now. And frankly, when this all happened and things were fresh in my memory, I didn't have it in me to try to look up names on the list of the dead. It was tragic enough as it was.
I prefer to remember them all just as they were.
Let this be my small tribute to everyone who opened their door for me.