Earthquake! Quick! Run to the Nearest Padlocked Door!

Hahahah... okay, go ahead and read the title again. Yep, you're not hallucinating, that's exactly what I posted - "Go to the nearest padlocked door." Crazy, right?

I just couldn't imagine how 40+ year olds who have been in the working class for almost 10 years or maybe more, or how managers that are presumed to have relevantly high IQs, even think of going to an exit that is clearly locked! Given the capacity to think even on times when people are all panicky because of an earthquake, the fact that our offices are located in the basement of a 20-floor building, and the fact that the company spends time and resources to conduct internal Basic Safety and Security Trainings for the employees, the most stupid idea you can EVER ever think of at this very moment is to go to the farther exit that is CLEARLY and is also KNOWN to have been padlocked for quite a long time already. I said farther because there is one exit that is not locked and is intended for emergencies that is nearer to our offices than the locked one. Hohum, i never thought people in this side of the city can be so stupid.

Ok, so benefit of the doubt:
1. What if they were already panicking, as in to the highest level of panic, and they weren't thinking clearly anymore? Hmmm. I don't know, because in my opinion, there always is one person in the group who remains clear-headed. That's a fact. In every emergency, there seems to be this divine thing that at least one of the people involved thinks clearly and rationally. Aside from that, the said earthquake was not really very strong. Although it was strong enough to leave the tables swaying a bit, it wasn't strong enough to make you go hysterical.
2. What if the clear-headed one chose to remain quiet and just let the panicked one decide because she seemed more sure? - Then they're in deep sh*t. Hahaha. And they look a lot more stupid than I thought they were.

So facts are, yes, there was an earthquake a while ago, that's about 12:30pm, right after lunch, and when we came out of the canteen to go to our office and check on things, we found about eight people in the hallway just opposite the LOCKED door, waiting. So we asked them if they felt the earthquake and what the hell they're doing in the hallway. They said yes, they felt the earthquake, and they were there because just in case it felt that the upper floors were about to cave in, they can run to the door and head for safety. And with raised eyebrows and a very skeptic and sarcastic tone, I asked: "Ha? Diha? Locked man na! Unsaon ninyo pag-gawas?"... [Ha? There? That's locked! How can you go out?] ... And I saw them all look at the door and realize that the door was really locked. You can actually imagine putting a slow motion effect and some sounds to their realization and a cartoon being inserted and laughing out loud. That's how weird they looked. And so we walked past them until one of them bravely admitted: "Bitaw, locked bitaw nah."... {"Yeah, that's right. It's locked."} Then they dispersed and went back to the office.

This event will stay in my memory for a week or so and be a joke for a little longer than a week, maybe even become word of mouth. And the panicky person will be the butt of the joke. Poor thing. So evil of me.