I was working at a mall that was slowly on the decline so business was slow in the morning. We had no access to the media just music the company provided for us. I had no idea what was happening for hours. I do remember my morning guy never showed up (because the national guard called him in). I was made because I was by myself and he never called. Finally at 10:30 am I walked out to fix a display out by the front window. I noticed that Sears had a bunch of people around their T.V. section (sometimes they held meetings on the floor) except I saw 2 women crying. In retail your never to leave your store but I had to see what was going on…as I walked over I had a sick feeling in my stomach…I asked what is going on, people looked at me like I was crazy but they realized I was in the store the whole time. Their store manager filled me in and I THEN realized why Richard never showed up for work I felt even worse because if I remembered correct my future wife’s cousin worked in tower 2. Of course when I returned to the store I couldn’t get in touch with anyone so I pulled out my radio and listened to the events unfold. At 2pm my night manager showed up who grew up in New Jersey was visibly upset so I told him to relax in the back. The mall manager decided to close the mall early but some punk teenager shows up as I am counting the money and I told him that “sorry we are closing” he looked at me and said “why? because of that dumb shit in N.Y.?” I was filled with rage because of the lose of life that had occured and he was so ignorant. I said to him “Get the F@ck out of this store!” I never swear at work but today it was justified, his girlfriend told him “we better go”. The rest of the day I was glued to the TV had friends over and we just sat and watch no talking. Over the next couple of days our store donated socks and shirts to the brave people searching for survivors. My wife’s cousin made it out of tower 2 because after the first tower was hit he grabbed the people on his floor and said “we need to get out of here!” Some stayed behind because they were told to stay put…when the second plane hit it killed those who decided to stay. Her cousin was a hero but has trouble dealing with the memories. God Bless those who lost friends, relatives, and those who worked weeks after the attack. I will never forget!