Back To Work At "Ground Zero"

[Andre98]

Finally, we were called back to work inside the restricted area. Surprisingly, the National Guards and cops are pretty easy to get past. There is a stench in that area, and we couldn't walk directly past the bordering corners of the WTC, but I could see one of the smaller buildings on the corner of the complex, and it was partially collapsed, windows blown out...shit, it was strange being back down in familiar surroundings. I heard some harrowing stories about people running for their lives...and the shit they witnessed! I'm glad I was still in NJ at the time This shit wont be back to normal for more than a year! I have been thinking about the "option out" package they are offering at the spot. Hate to do it with no other job lined up, but I'm not looking forward to the daily reminder that this horror happened.

[Babygirl]

Wow Dre,
out of morbid curiousity is it the smell of smoke or rotting bodies??? If you choose the opt out package..would that carry you for a few months???? Good luck on your decison.

[Bedroomeyes]

That would have been so hard for me to go back there... So all this time were you at a different location? If so, why didnt they let yall stay there? Or were you off all this time? If so did they still pay yall?

Do what you have to do for you.. Good luck with your decision...;)

[OhSoPrecious]

Do what you have to do, bruh~!! :hearts: However, let me just tell you this. . . (I am not trying to discourage you)

My very best friend works for Standard & Poors. . just a few blocks away from Ground Zero (you would know better than me how close/far she is). . . her company returned to work almost two weeks after Sept. 11th. . .

She has been sick ever since~!!!!!! :( :(

She said that everyone in her company was sent to the hospital one day. . . because they were all sick from the "smell in the air"~!! :confused: They were really not sure what it was. . but, they were all treated and released~!!

Most recently, she has been home for a week and a half with flu like symptoms. . she has also broken out in a rash~!! :( :( The doctors say it is not Anthrax~!!

Only the Lord knows what's wrong with this girl~!!! :confused:

So, if you opt to take the "package". . . I ain't mad at cha~!! ;)

Just be S A F E. . . . you're in my prayers~!! :upretty

[Andre98]

...is that you have to expose yourself as being interested in leaving before you can find out what you will get in severance. They said it's 12 weeks of pay as a minimum, but what catches my eye is its up to a maximum of 54 weeks! On Bloomberg Radio, they were saying as much as a year and a half! All I'm saying, is its rare that you get a chance to live nearly debt free, and we could even pay for a couple IVF attempts to get this parenthood thing off the ground at long last! ... but not if I only get three months of pay. After they jack me for taxes on the lump sum, I may be lucky to see half of it. I went on and told my boss though, so we are going to look into it on a exploratory basis right now, to get a figure from HR. If I can get 6 months, I just might jump. As for my time during the dormant period...except for doing two days work at a midtown branch, I was totally off work, and they paid me every dime! In fact everyone got a $100 stipend. To leave, I have to forget the guilt I feel after taking a free ride for a month, and the fact that, with 10,000 in layoffs expected anyway by year's end, my boss was assuring us our small dept. would be untouched by it, because each one of us was critical to the process. Now, if I bolt, they most likely would not replace my "headcount", and they would be hard pressed to make up for it. Not to toot my own horn, but after 11 years, I had carved out a niche. There is so much grey area stuff that gets done by the acquired savvy and personal relationships one builds over years like that. I weathered many previous layoffs, and I know its from my boss personally shielding me as one of her key people. But these are extraordinary circumstances!

As for the smell....
The smell is like burning metal and steam...like if you leave a boiling pot on and the water runs out. It does have you coughing a dry cough at times. Lord knows what we are inhaling, because you can bet on gross incompetence when you trust the officials to be straight with you. They did have air quaility machines tesing the air inside and out for weeks (they said) The smell is inside and outside the building. The ground is being washed down by street cleaners, and is gritty like the way roads have sandy residue when they battle snowstorms' icyness. The steam is still rising off the pile, and when we were there Tues, we watching a procession of motorcycle cops escorting an ambulance out with another found body. I heard today from some of the building maintenance crew that was called in the day after to the actual site itself. They were collecting body parts off the ledges of the World Financial Center buildings across the street from the WTC. A few of them couldn't take it and after getting "physically sick" more than once, had to leave. That is more than most can handle.... as you are picking up debris, loose papers, metal fragments, chunks of concrete, you just come across a fragment of a head or limb, something totally shocking! One man from our building's security tried to do the heroic thing after the planes hit and went right over to try to help. As the first collapse happened, he had to dive under a firetruck, and witnessed someone get cut in half! They had to dig this security man out later, and that was basically because they were digging out the firetruck so they could use it. If he wasn't conscious enough to yell out, they might have run his ass over.
I am running long, but there are many stories like that. A girl I worked with almost got in a fight with some parents who had their kids, some even in strollers right up at the bordering streets, watching the whole spectacle unfold. How can you let your child see people jumping out of buildings and continue to watch? I am so glad I didnt have the trauma of actually having to run for my life that day. So, the last thing I need is health problems from the air. The huge Embassy Suites hotel office and movie theater complex that they just built across the street is still closed, with signs posted on the windows to not enter without a respirator. There are restaurants (Chevys, AppleBees) on the ground floor with big picture windows. As I was leaving Thursday, I walked past and saw two workers sitting at a dining table, just resting, but with full Bio-Hazard outfits on, masks and all. The tables were all meticulously set with the place settings. Behind them was the fully stocked bar, rows of liquor bottles and glasses in place as perfect as the day the place was evacuated. I wished I had a camera...that was a damn peculiar sight. I could have called the picture "Table for two, hold the Asbestos" But we were warned that pulling out a camera inside that restricted zone is a federal violation and you would be arrested first, asked questions later. There are too many 20 year old national guard soldiers around with weapons to be fucking around like that.
Damn... I just can't stop typing, can I?:D

[Tastey]

This is one of those rare times when your long windedness is greatly appreciated. :)

I have read many stories from ground zero but yours brings the Hush Fam up close with insight, personal feelings, drama, and even humor. TIME magazine can't do that.

Thank you my Brother, you keep right on typing we will keep right on reading.

I will be praying for you and your wife and the decision you have before you.

[lovely]

Andre..i will be praying for you and your family during this time. I can't imagine what you and the thousands of people in that area are going through. God Bless ya'll all.

Personally I keep thinking that things will get to back to normal..well hoping anyways. And a couple of hours will go by and i wont think about it...and then i will get an email or someone will say somthing about anthrax..or a picture will flow through my mind and my heart starts to hurt...it starts to ache. This is something that i will never ever get over. And yet it is somthing that i must get over(but not forget), so that my life can go on.

The only thing that has gotten me through this is my relationship with God.

[Babygirl]

Originally posted by Andre98+
...half! All I'm saying, is its rare that you get a chance to live nearly debt free, and we could even pay for a couple IVF attempts to get this parenthood thing off the ground at long last! ... but not if I only get three months of pay

Dre,
Sounds like a great investment if you and your wife decide to "opt out". Check your pm..I sent you something

[Toffee]

U be safe down there. I read in the paper that the Firemen down there all are coughing and have to use inhalers...

[Andre98]

At base....It's 3 weeks for every year employed. I been there 10. So 30 weeks of pay plus 40% of my 2000 year bonus. First they pay you at the regular two week interval for 12 weeks, with all benefits, 401 K and all in place. Doesnt matter if i get another job the day after i leave. Then you get the remaining 18weeks in a lump sum ( annihilated by deductions and taxes) at the start of March 2002. Also you get all unused vacation days in 2001, ( even those accumulated up to Mar. 2002) I would have a total of 9 days vacation. Plus, a lump sum for medical, even if you never had medical covered under a plan at that job. I can get a job in those 3 months that I am getting my normal pay, and be socking it away. Even a holiday season related job until I can get a more permanent one.

Change is hard, but all I think about is...
1. I can spend the next three months at the job and at the end, at the time I would have been getting a whopper lump sum, be satisfied I made the right decision? Will I be able to keep on keeping on, and not be bitching and moaning about the rut I'm in... or
2. I can get paid like I am there, but NOT be there, be working at another job, and at the end of 3 months get a big lump sum.

My decision has to be made by this Friday, Nov 6, and its irrevocable. Whatever money I could hope to drag out of a refinancing of my mortgage, this is as good or better than that. With the economy what it is, can I afford to walk away from a very, very stable job, one I have been immune to layoffs in?
I have to tell yall, i am leaning toward taking the leap. I am apprehensive, yet excited at the same time about the unknown.


UPDATE: November 15th: I decided to stay. All I see is how bad it is and will get worse trying to find a job. Since I had to decide by 11/06, and had no irons in the fire, I didn't want to chuck a secure job at a company inside the Fortune 20 with no prospects. I had so much invested in it. I never had a problem with my pay level, it far out clocks what it pays in many other places. I mean, shit, my bonus last year was 6K, and I am a nobody! I will be using that long neglected 100% tuition reimbursement program and take a class in January. I feel much better and I'm sure this was the best choice for us at this time. Thanks for being a sounding board, fam!