By Elva Weber
I was in Newark, New Jersey, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003, working with a less than knowledgeable sales rep without appointments and without a glimpse of interest in her work or work habits, when a major power outage happened in the entire eastern seaboard. The sky was still light, so she and I rushed to the train station to get back to New York City where I had booked a room at the Gramercy Park.
She left me at the station without a hint of care, happy to be rid of me; I was asking too many questions about her work habits and goals and such nonsense she had no way of justifying.
How are we getting back to New York without power? Easy, the station has called a diesel train to get us back to Grand Central and the train is on the way. All the other stranded passengers and I waited in line for the diesel train; it took 5 hours to get it to the station.
By this time is 10 PM; we boarded the train and were on our way back with the feeling there were no other people on earth except us. All is dark, no lights anywhere except the occasional automobile cautiously and slowly driving through.
We arrived at Grand Central Station after midnight and it was a scene similar to a horror movie with bodies splayed on the stairs, on the pavement, sitting anywhere they could find room. The emergency lights were too dim to help out and my hotel is far away. I stepped over some people sitting on the sidewalk and hailed a taxi. Sure, like I can find one during this emergency; I did.
The driver asked me to sit on the front seat because there were two young ladies on back waiting to be driven to SoHo. He kept telling them the power was out and the restaurants and bars were closed, but they didn’t want to take his advice. The driver delivered them where they wanted to go and stopped the meter after receiving payment for the ride. We started on our way to the the Gramercy Park when I mentioned the meter was not on; he looked at me and said the young ladies had paid for the ride and he needed to get back to the area anyway. No charge; was that an incredible gift, or what?
The taxi driver left me two blocks from the hotel and I walked in the dark; after reaching the hotel lobby, I discovered the emergency lights were on but the elevators were not operable. My hotel room was in the 14th floor; I was handed a candle and the way to the stairs with my key in hand. Another guest was on his way up at the same time so we had enough light between the two candles to light the way. It took a very long time to arrive at the 14th floor.
After opening the door to my room, I wanted to get the dirt off and realized that without power there was no water pressure. No clocks, no neon signs outside, or any sounds other than police and ambulance sirens taken the injured parties to hospitals. After all, this is New York City. I gathered as much water as I could from the trickle coming out of the spigot and got cleaned up the best I could.
In the morning the shuttle was to take me back to La Guardia airport, along with other passengers; after some confusion discovered all flights were cancelled due to the lack of power. We were told another bus would take us from La Guardia to Newark where some power was restored; after waiting several hours at Newark airport we flew back to Kansas City where I arrived without further damage.
Had I known when I was in Newark I was to get back there to fly home, I would have stayed in Newark. And what happened to the sales rep who left me at the train station without a care? She was fired after the power was restored.