The Pool Guy's
View on the 09-11 Tragedy
This article was originally
written right after the 09/11 tragedy in 2001 by our company
president Daniel Harrison.
The September
11 Tragedy through the eyes of some "Pool Guys"
I thought I might share with all of you some
real life experiences the folks at our pool company had in the
aftermath of the September 11 Tragedy at the World Trade Center. For
most of the country, this was a big national news story, but for the
people of New York City and Long Island, it was (and always will be) a very local
story. I thought I might pass along some thoughts about the tragedy
through the eyes of a few "pool guys". Feel free to
re-print all or part of this article if you want.
 One
of our
companies, Paramount Pools, is located on Long Island about 60 miles
from New York City. Many of our families, friends and customers work
in the city. On Sept. 11 we were in the height of our Pool Closing
Season with over 100 service jobs scheduled that day. When I woke up
that morning and watched the events unfold on TV I could not believe
what I was seeing. I actually felt like I was watching a bad HBO
movie as I saw the first tower fall. I quickly drove to our
warehouse, listening to the most unbelievable reports on the radio
as the disaster continued to unfold. In my mind, I began running
through the list of close friends that I had who live or work in NYC
and could have possibly been involved in the incident. I started
dialing numbers on my cell phone to try to call some of them, but
the cell phones were not working properly.
As I arrived at the office, all the TV’s
were tuned to CNN and as I walked in all eyes were riveted to the
news. No one could believe it. As the clocked ticked by, our phone
system kicked on, but the normal constant drone of the phones
buzzing and ringing was no where to be found. No one was calling. A
few Customer Service reps tried to start their daily calls, but
found it hard to call a customer about things like special order
pool cover estimates while all this was going on. I quickly went
over to each desk and pulled out all the job estimates and
"sales" calls and told them not to place those kinds of
outgoing calls for now. We had no idea what else was going to
happen. More hijacking? Gas? Bombs? We really did not know how this
whole thing was going to play out.
After the second tower fell and any further
immediate threat seemed to diminish, the phones started to ring
again. However everything seemed different all of a sudden. A late
service appointment or a wrong size pool cover did not seem
important at all. How could a customer complain about a leaky water
tube when something like this was going on? But life does go on -
and it seemed - so did the business.
As the day unfolded and our pool servicemen
started to arrive back to our office after having finished their
service routes, we began to hear painful stories. As one serviceman
was blowing out the pipes of a pool, the customer came home, crying,
telling him that he just came from the city and had actually watched
some of his fellow co-workers jump from the building to their
deaths. Another serviceman told of a frantic customer continuously
trying to call her husband on his cell phone the whole time her pool
was being closed. She was very upset. The serviceman said that it
was very, very sad to see this happen.
One by one, the other servicemen turned in
their job tickets with unimaginable stories. One said he felt like a
traveling grief counselor as he went from house to house closing
pools that day. Another serviceman told of his horror as he went
from job to job, learning more details from the TV’s of each
customer who welcomed him into their houses to watch as the tragedy
unfolded. I saw big burley pool guys noticeably shocked and moved by
what they had experienced that day. It was terrible.
Over the next few days we continued to hear
numerous horror stories from our employees, friends, families and
customers. To date, we know of four of our best customers who were
killed. It’s one thing to watch the stories on CNN, but it is
certainly a whole different horrific experience to speak to a
customer you have known for years and hear that their husband, wife,
son or daughter is still missing or dead.
One customer, Jim, loved the Giants football
team. He always like to joke around with one of our servicemen Chris
because Chris liked the Jets. Chris went to close his pool just the
other day and was surprised to see Jim’s wife there instead. She
was rarely home. He got an uncomfortable feeling right away. He
started closing the pool and asked where Jim was. His wife started
crying and said that he was on the 87th floor of the tower, and she
was sure he had died. Chris was very saddened by the loss of this
nice, funny and friendly customer he had serviced for years. He was
really moved by the experience.
Another serviceman Rick had always serviced
Joan & Mike’s hot tub. They were very funny and upbeat people
- especially Mike. He was always joking about everything and both of
them really enjoyed their spa. When Rick went to their home to
install a new spa pump the other day, he noticed an unusual amount
of cars around the house. As usual, he went around back to the spa
and installed the new pump anyway. When he was done he went to the
back door, knocked, and Mike came to the door - his eyes red from
crying. Rick had never seen this man any other way other than happy
and smiling. By now he had been through this enough times to know
that Mike must have lost someone in the tragedy. It was his son. A
26-year-old bond broker who had worked in the WTC. He was dead and
they were making funeral arrangements. Rick felt a sick feeling in
the pit of his stomach as he remembered seeing the son just the week
before. It was very sad.
A long-time pool customer had been very happy
when she called us in late August to book her Pool Closing Service.
Her daughter was going to be married in September and she was
looking forward to it. She had been a customer of ours for 6 years
and was always very nice and friendly to our staff. When our
serviceman Mike got to her house in order to close the pool, her
daughter came out and showed him where all the pool supplies were in
the shed. Mike finished closing the pool and went into the kitchen
to collect the check. He overheard the mother on the phone canceling
the catering hall reservations for a wedding. He asked the mother
why she was doing this and she broke down crying and ran from the
room.
As the daughter came in and handed him the
check, Mike asked what was going on. In a very calm, dry tone she
told him that her fiancé was in the WTC and she has not heard from
him yet. She still had hope that he may be alive, but felt that even
if he was, he would be in no shape to go through with the wedding
the next week. She said they were canceling the wedding plans, but
still had good hope that she would hear from her fiancé again. Mike
handed the check back to her and told her there would be no charge
for her service call. She was thankful and said goodbye. She is
still waiting to hear from her fiancé.
Two of our servicemen have not even been able
to work and close pools since the tragedy. One is a Firefighter and
one is in the National Guard Reserves. Both were immediately called
in to New York on Sept. 12 to help with the rescue efforts. I cannot
even repeat many of the horror stories that they told me - things
that they have seen right at Ground Zero. They both said that it is
truly "Hell on Earth" there.
They are times like this that put the rest of
our lives into the proper perspective. Suddenly all the
"problems" we thought we had don’t seem so important any
more. Suddenly all the things we all spend time worrying about are
no longer that bad. Especially in the pool and spa industry where so
much time is spent arguing about things like which spa has the best
insulation, which pump is the strongest or which liner is the best.
Suddenly just being alive, being with loved ones and being an
American are the things that seem like they should always be the
most important things in our lives to enjoy and thank God for.
These are the kinds of human events that rip
your heart out. All of us "pool guys" have been forever
changed by them. The world changed on Sept. 11. We will never be the
same.
Daniel Harrison
President, CEO
Paramount Pools and
Poolandspa.com # # #
Reproduction rights permitted with credit to Daniel Harrison,
Poolandspa.com
© Copyright 2001 by
Poolandspa.com Inc. |
