Where Were You 21Years Ago Today?

I was a manager in a major drugstore chain. I had just been assigned to a new store. I had been to a staff meeting the evening before, but I hadn't yet gotten to know any of my fellow employees.

I was scheduled at 08.00. When I walked into the store, I saw the entire staff gathered around the front counter, watching a display TV. Every store in the chain had TVs for sale, with one on display over the front counter, but I'd never seen one plugged in and certainly not with the entire staff watching it!

I started to ask my new general manager what was going on. He slapped my arm and told me to shut up. I looked up at the TV just in time to see the second plane hit the South Tower. At that point, of course, any thought that the first plane had been an accident evaporated and it became obvious that it was a deliberate attack.

My wife worked in a store across the street from my new store. She and I were having serious problems, but we had two draft-age sons. She came across the street and asked me to hug her. 

Later, I stepped out of the backdoor of the store to smoke a cigarette. Across the street was a gas station. The night before gas had been around $1.25/gal. The price had jumped to around $1.50. I thought to myself that before the day was out, I'd see $2.00 gas for the first time in my life. I was wrong! Before the day was over, several local stations had raised their prices to over $5.00 per gallon!

To be fair, after the hysteria ended, the owners of those stations paid hefty fines and a few did jail time for price gouging.

It is one of the very few days that I remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news, along with JFK's assassination, the moon landing, the loss of the USSS Challenger, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Where were you?