Memories Of Two Giants Struck Down Part 5

March 1993:

Things couldn't be better. I had just turned 32, I was getting married in July, and I aced the interview for that promotion. I was now a Sales Manager at one of the two World Trade Center Branches of the "new" post-merger Chemical Bank.

My new Branch Manager was one hell of a great guy, an ex-Marine who fought in Korea, was about 6'6" tall and had to weigh close to 300 pounds. He was "old school", which meant he pretty much took customers out to lunch daily (which usually meant a few of the local Irish pubs that were our customers) and never really came back to the office. It also meant I usually went out with him, because he was the one who signed my corporate card, and we'd split the expense. So the food and the booze flowed freely almost every day, and we'd be doing amazing business...In fact, we became the top producing branch in our market. I attribute that to two things: I had a great staff that I worked with and a liver that could keep up with my boss'!

Another thing our Branch had going for it was the fact that we had an exclusive deal to handle the Bank accounts of a major brokerage. In fact, right around Christmas time, these brokers would come in with huge bonus checks...And I mean HUGE. I think the smallest check I ever saw was for $125,000; the largest was on the order of a few million dollars. I got to know a lot of those brokers, and while some were great guys who I helped to finance their Mortgages, Home Equities, and kids trust accounts; others were just arrogant bastards...Especially their CEO.

God, that man thought he walked on water and could part the Red Sea at the same time. He would insist with dealing with no one below the title of a "Manager" and would throw his banking business on your desk while you were with another customer, and hover over you like chopper leaving Saigon for the last time until you stopped what you were doing and handled his business. I had the unfortunate experience of dealing with him on a number of occasions, and had asked a broker or two about this guy. Turns out he kind of pulled off an office coup a few years before and ousted the founders from the board. They didn't particularly like him either, but he paid his staff well. I'm not speaking ill of the dead here, because the CEO survived the 9/11 attack.

The brokerage was Cantor Fitzgerald, and they lost over 700 employees on 9/11, including my neighbor's brother.

I had the position and promotion, I was finally working in the WTC. I was making a name for myself, and my career was on the fast track. All my hard work was finally paying off; I could now proudly say that I had a career, a wonderful woman who I was going to marry in a few short months, a great group of friends that always got together every Friday night.

And I was working in my beloved Towers...Finally! Well...Not exactly in the Towers, but one of the smaller office buildings (5 WTC to be precise) of the complex. I could go to lunch in the huge plaza between the towers on a warm spring day, sit by the fountain with the huge globe-like statue at the center of it, and hear bands play. I was in my glory...And you know something, I never thought twice about that first bombing ever again (until 8 years later). A month after the bombing, the PATH trains were running again, repairs were being made, and things started to go on like before. Just like the typical New Yorker, I carried on as if nothing had ever happened. (Even though I live in New Jersey now and consider myself a NJite, when people ask me where I'm from I will always say Brooklyn...Even though I moved to Staten Island when I was 5!)

What I didn't realize, and never did realize until after 9/11, that my wife was absolutely terrified that I worked in the World Trade Center. In fact, she never expressed any of her fears to me until after 9/11. So, while I was blissfully going on my merry way every day from 1993-1995...My wife was petrified that the unthinkable would happen again.

It never entered my mind...In fact I used to make a joke about it that the Bank thought so much of me that when they promoted me they made me the Sales Manager at a WTC Branch. Funny, now that I think back on it, my wife never laughed at that joke.

As I mentioned earlier, with the Merger would come some Branch closings, so they decided to close our WTC Branch.

I was again promoted, this time to Columbus Circle Branch. So in early 1995, I once again left my beloved Towers behind, occasionally returning to visit old friends and former customers, but for the next 4 years I would be working in Midtown Manhattan

Two more promotions followed; the last one being on a Staff Position. This basically meant that I was away from dealing with an impatient general public in the Branches, to dealing with impatient Senior Vice Presidents sequestered in their glass and ivory towers of Midtown Manhattan.

In 1996, Chemical Bank had merged (yet again!) with Chase Manhattan Bank; this time we took the Chase Brand name as it was more recognizable. It was also decided to move all the Retail Bank Support Staff positions from the various Midtown offices to 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, the second tallest skyscraper in The Financial District right after the two World Trade Center Towers. It was two blocks east of the South Tower, and that meant an easier commute for me and I'd be back where I belonged: right near those Towers I had watched being built, commuted through, and worked in.

The date we moved into our 13th Floor offices was September 10th, 1999. I was finally back home.

To be continued...