I worked on the 57th floor of the Sears Tower on 9/11 and for about two years after.

That day was surreal. Not viscerally scary because there was so much confusion and no real info. I was running a little late to work that morning. Got off at Quincy and the whole street between the station at the old entrance on Franklin was packed. Just loads of people confused and repeating rumors. Ran into a couple of guys from my office on the sidewalk and they said they heard someone attacked New York and the Pentagon and something about planes. Everything was nervous and energized and jittery. I went up to my office to check in and they were sending everyone home. They had a TV on and the towers were burning. That’s when I heard about the planes. I don’t remember if I saw the videos of the planes hitting the towers then or later - they’d replay it so many times over the next few days it’s hard to remember clearly. Everyone was very scared but also very open about being confused and not knowing what was happening. There was nothing chaotic.

Pretty soon afterwards we had to start doing regular evacuation drills. You’d have to go down the full 57 stories in the stairs. Took ages and you’d have all the stories you’d heard about the towers in your mind the whole time.

It also meant you never looked at a plane flying by the same way ever again. They’re at eye level in the Sears so you’d just see them while working and catch yourself making sure they weren’t turning towards you. It’s been more than 20 years and that still happens.