Common Ground

9-11-01 Stranded in Atlanta

Posted by Steve Bukosky on Sept. 11, 2009

Various Topics

Above my desk is a three ring binder that says Mitsubishi and the dates September  11 & 12 2001. On that fateful day, I was sitting in a classroom outside of Atlanta Georgia at the American distribution center for Mitsubishi Electric. At the rear of the classroom was a mural of the New York skyline, with the World Trade buildings being the center of attention. As events unfolded and interest in the class diminished, a comment was that this "air strike" was worse than Pearl Harbor. Chilling because the Japanese Zero airplanes that bombed Pearl Harbor were made by Mitsubishi, now a business partner with us.

Atlanta was supposedly on the list of places to be attacked. So the airport was shut down for days. As I dislike taking taxis, I rented a car at the airport. Phone calls to them just kept ringing. Tuesday afternoon the class ended and airline flights were still grounded. Still no answer at the car rental company. Well, possession is 99% of ownership so at 4:30 PM I was driving the rental car back home. Around 3:30 AM I arrived in Chicago and found the rental company at O Hare airport where I had departed from. The normally 24 hour bustle of the airport was missing, but the rental company was open. I flipped the keys on the counter and said you now have a rental car with Georgia license plates. Some days later they let me know that the $450 off-site drop-off fee was waived due to the circumstances. Decent of them.

I don't recall much after that. Somehow I retrieve my car from the remote parking lot and continued home to Waukesha. Fourteen hours after I left Atlanta, I arrive home.

Hey boss, I'm going to be in the office a little late today!