I was 17 on that day, working my 2nd day at my first ever job. I was supposed to work my 2nd day the day before, but this McDonalds was in a mall. And they closed the mall that day.
It was soooooooo erie that day. I’ve never seen anything like it before or since, and it lasted about a week.
People were just zombies. They didn’t know how to exist. I had a register. I existed by making my own job more important than it really was. In my mind, I was there to serve a purpose of helping people by serving them something firmiliar. Anytime things got intense, I could look down at my register. Burgers and fries. Burgers and fries. Get their drink. Get them an apple pie. Job job job. No need to think. Just need to work.
But everyone else in my line didn’t have that. They were alone. Surrounded by others. All dealing with this together. Individually. Alone.
One woman, in the middle of the line, 5 registers, she’s in the 3rd line, about 4 people back, so literally in the dead center of the line with people on all sides. She’s standing in silence. Then without warning falls to her knees, laying on the ground. Openly weeping. Others assisted her in standing back up. Which formed into a group hug. She was the one who fell, but I think everyone needed that group hug.
I just started giving out apple pies. For free. My manager questioned me, and I said “look at these people. We all need a little something today. If you want to charge me for the pies so be it.”
She didn’t. Next day she had a box of 100 pins. The pins were those lapel pins that you can wear on your dress shirt. They were of the American flag. We gave them out. They only lasted like 15 minutes.
But Sept 12th is a day I remember almost as much as the 11th. Because of how quiet and erie everything was. How everyone had 1000% empathy. Everyone held doors for everyone else. Nobody said a word. It would have been nice if it weren’t for the massive tragedy that caused it.
D_C@sh.itjust.works 5 hours ago
The 9th of December was a Sunday. I was probably hung over after a night out with my mates. Good times.
VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 hours ago
American 9/12, not everywhere else 9/12.