Reluctant Hero: A 9/11 Survivor Speaks Out About That Unthinkable Day, What He's Learned, How He's Struggled, and What No One Should Ever Forget Read Online Free PDF Page B

From there, I take one of several main elevators that hold up to fifty people and rocket from the lobby to the 78th floor in forty-five seconds. My ears pop every time I ride that damn elevator. I walk off the express elevator and take a “local” one to the 81st floor, which deposits me right outside the door to the Network Plus office.
    We occupied the southeast corner office, seven thousand square feet with large wooden doors at the entrance. Bank ofAmerica had just moved in across the hall. They were the only other company on the floor. If you walked a straight line to the back of our office and took a hard left, you walked into our conference room, which was located in the physical corner of the building. The view from the conference room was breathtaking. From the east window, you could see across the East River to Brooklyn with full views of the Brooklyn, Williamsburg, and Manhattan bridges. From the south window, you could see the southern tip of Manhattan Island, the Statue of Liberty, and parts of New Jersey. It felt about as New York City as any office could feel.
    Kevin Nichols, the regional manager, was an early riser, and always the first in. That Monday was no exception. I grumbled as I walked by him, thinking about what I might need to address on the conference call: New sales? Big sales? New hires? New fires? What did I have in the pipeline? Was it a bad week, and why? Would I get a lambasting or a kudos? I tried to anticipate the CEO’s mood. These were my big concerns.
    I dropped my bag in my office, gathered some documents, and went to Kevin’s office for the call. After escaping the conference call relatively unscathed, I prepared for a meeting with my entire staff at 8:15 a.m. They had to be in by 8:00 a.m. That was the rule. Whoever came in past 8:00 a.m. paid $2. If I was late, I paid $10. I got my thoughts organized about what I wanted to say to the team. I created a handout that noted the top sales of the week and included bullet points for discussion—what we had gone over during the managers’ conference calls, new training, what to look for in the marketplace, product promos. I printed out forty copies.
    We gathered in the conference room. I ran the meeting— delivered the information, motivated them, and prepared them to go sell for the week. I also reminded them that we needed tomeet quotas and, of course, of what they needed to do to win an open bar. I always ended the meetings with some type of relevant inspirational or motivational quote. Whoever guessed the author earned a free lunch. Monday is an in day, so they hit the phones, made calls, and set up appointments. My door, I told them, was always open.
    We all took the same lunch hour: 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. There was no flexibility with that. But man, did we treasure that hour. The courtyard of the World Trade Center was such a vibrant area. (Maybe people forget that now.) Your every want could be fulfilled in a one-to-two-block radius. The World Trade Center had its own mall with top-notch retail stores and food. If you needed a clean shirt or a new tie, Century 21 was across the street. Borders was next door. We went out to lunch as a crew. We’d grab cheap Chinese on Fulton Street or tasty Cuban from Sylvia’s on Greenwich. If we didn’t want to walk very far, we’d buy the tandoori chicken–basmati rice combo or something else delicious off a truck just a few yards from the North Tower’s front door. Tables were set up around the courtyard’s fountain. We liked eating there, outside. That time of year, that Monday, they still had bands playing near the fountain in front of the Towers.
    That Monday, many of us sat in the courtyard together, drenched in the brilliant sun. I took the hour and poured myself back into Black Hawk Down. I found the story very engrossing, and I began to savor each page.
    When I’m reading a book, I usually keep it in my trusty bag that I bring with me wherever I go. I’ll read the book on the