Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

I had just finished off my overnight security shift at the hotel gate. The last hour or so was always hectic because we had a breakfast buffet that was open to everyone, not just registered guests, and we had a huge surge in visitors and we had to have temporary parking passes for them. That day was a little more hectic as I remember it. The landscapers had decided that the shrubs in the median in front of my kiosk had to be trimmed and they had to be trimmed during the breakfast rush so I had cranky guests and loud gas-powered trimmers and all the other things going on.

My shift ended at 08:00, and I hopped in my car to go home. I only lived a few miles away and was home by 08:15. I ate a slice of cold pizza for breakfast, watched something silly on television for a few minutes while I did and went straight to sleep since I had an overtime shift that night.

I woke up around six that night to my cell phone blinking at me saying I had messages. I listened to them and they were all from my mom, freaking out because I wasn’t answering the phone and she was worried about me and the World Trade Center was gone and why wasn’t I answering my phone. Still not knowing what she was talking about, I called her back, said I had been asleep because I worked overnights (duh) and what did she mean the World Trade Center was gone? How can it be gone? She told me there had been attacks, that I should turn on the television, that she had been told there was a plane headed for where I worked and she was worried. I asked her if there had been reports of a plane hitting where I worked (I was still trying to get the television turned on) and she said no. Of course I asked her why she was worried then, and she threw some sort of convoluted Mom Logic at me that I don’t remember.

I finally saw what would soon become known as both the Pile and Ground Zero. I got off the phone with my mom and called the supervisor on duty at the dispatch office and told them I’d been asleep but just woke up, did they need me to come in (Security, remember?) was everything ok, and I’m sorry I was just now getting the news. He told me everything was under control, to work my scheduled overtime shift (2200-0800), but to report at the front desk of the hotel instead of the office, the overnight supervisor was going to gather all the overnight foot patrols and motor patrols and give us special instructions.

All in all it was a quite night. Everyone who wasn’t gathered around the fireplace (it wasn’t lit, but it was a gathering spot) in the lobby or the television in the bar (they weren’t serving, but it didn’t have a closeable door) was in their room. Around three o’clock or so the highlight of my night hit: almost everyone was back in their rooms by this point and I’m walking the corridors making sure there isn’t anything untoward going on because at this point we’re still hyped up and don’t know if it’s really over yet or not. I walk around a corner and there, standing in front of me, is a completely nude twenty-something with an ice bucket in her hand. Wow. Not a look we normally allow in the hallways, and I was a little flabbergasted to say the least. She held the bucket up and said, "ice?" I didn’t recognize the accent specifically but I could tell it was probably from somewhere in Europe. I pointed her in the right direction and followed behind from what I hoped was a proper distance. I made sure she got back into her room (she obviously didn’t have her room key with her) and went on about my rounds.

About five thirty or so the officer at the kiosk called me down and wanted to know if I could handle the employee gate for her that morning s we could positively ID everyone that came in that way. Normally people used their key-cards and if there was a problem there was an intercom and a camera system but we just weren’t comfortable with that in the wee hours of 9/12/01 and so I walked over there (about a quarter of a mile) to take care of it. I was there until 1000 before the office could find someone to relieve me since that wasn’t a normal post and we had to have the day-time foot patrol officer up in the resort itself. People thanked us for being there, they gladly showed us their drivers’ license as well as their company ID without even being asked.

We instituted strict new protocols that night at all the gates. We had to see a copy of the Bill of Lading for every delivery. If we didn’t have a kiosk at the service entrance (most didn’t) then all trucks had to come in the main entrance and verify the driver’s ID and BoL. We started requiring ALL drivers to show ID before we let them past the gate, even if one of the passengers had a resort ID. All of the service driveways with kiosks were re-routed with concrete barricades so trucks had to make an S-turn instead of driving straight in, and the kiosks at hotels that were being remodeled or newly constructed, while having the same open look and decorative siding, were changed from wooden structures to cast concrete and cinder block. Any delivery driver that gave us any trouble about his ID and BoL was called in to dispatch and a Supervisor and K-9 unit were sent out.

There was one delivery later in the week that I still laugh about when I think of it: a truck headed for one of our restaurants was refusing to show ID or a BoL and had already blown through one gate. I managed to stop him, and my supervisor and the K-9 were only about a minute behind him. After my supervisor reamed him pretty good (he was a retired Marine) the driver opened the back of the truck and in went the dog, a big European breed of German Shepherd. After spending about ten minutes in the truck climbing and sniffing, the handler says everything is clear and we send the truck on. Five minutes later he’s back on the out-bound side of my kiosk demanding to speak with my supervisor, screaming that we are in so much trouble and if he gets fired he’s going to sue everyone. The restaurant had refused the delivery because there was dog hair all over everything! I love it.

So, that’s where I was: asleep in my bed and totally oblivious.