I had a shoot scheduled for an organization in Albany, NY. I had been watching a network news show in the morning on a TV in the office... which was odd because I had always had MASH on in the mornings for the previous year or so. I saw it live from when they first thought a Cessna had hit the first tower, through the second plane hitting, through Washington and Pennsylvania. Seeing the second plane hit "live" on the continous feed behind the anchor is something I'll always remember.
About five minutes after the second plane had hit the second tower, I had called my client in Albany to ask if the shoot was still going to happen, and no one in their office had heard the news yet. I told her what was happening, and she said she'll call me back in five minutes. When she did, she told me that no, they would need to reschedule. They had a branch office in one of the towers.
I feel bad that I was the one who told them about the news, but I know I did it in a respectful way, and I was in a bit of shock watching it all live.
I had only been to their Albany office once before; previously my shoots for them were in Tampa and quite a few different shoots in DC. I haven't been called to do more for them since 2001...I don't really think it's the same company it once was, though I never heard / found out if or how many people they lost that day.
For good or for bad, being self-employed and having appointments canceled allowed me to sit glued to the TV for four days.
