Ye flipping gods!!!
<img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />
-Blast

I would hope that the next day EVERY non lawyer in the place told the lawyers were to stick it - and never came back

Yea, while her and all the rest of the 'staff' were asking to leave they kept being told they hadn't recieved authorization from the higher ups. My wife was their primary payroll person at the time so she said "I'm leaving" and no one wnated to argue with the person who sends the paychecks so she got out of there.
Telling that story to others in the years after I found that was a common thing, the most valueable people to the company were the ones who got to leave first then the "replaceable" people were let go.
Now when something happens at work, be it a drill or not, I break some of the rules and get out of there because I don't know if the security staff is acting in my best interest or in the best interest of someone high up in the company. They might yell at us to get to the right on the stairs or go down a designated stairwell but I don't listen anyore, its unfortunat that one can't trust the people who are supposed to be keeping me secure but its a real issue now after that incident at her work.

I consider everyone that I work with (small state gov. agency) a "valuable human being", regardless of what they do (or don't do). And I am the person responsible for seeing that our employees are evacuated.

In cases where limited evacuation is the only alternative, I have adopted the philosophy espoused by Roger Moore's character in the movie "ffolkes" (aka "North Sea Hijack" and "Assault Force") - the youngest ones go first, the older ones have had their chance.

I would love to see some [censored] try to tell me that I cannot leave the building because some shirt hasn't been evacuated yet.
Pregnant women and Kid's, yes. Some tie, No.
Anti-Lemming Rules of Engagement now in force.

BTW That said (re not waiting for the suits) - there is a darned good chance I'll be the LAST person off my floor. I'm one of the floor wardens, and I take my job seriously - VERY seriously. When the FD gets to my floor, they WILL find office doors marked with SAR markings - The FD chief who gives us our drills always laughs at coming to out floor - because we all know the answers, and the fire team on the floor actually takes their job seriously - to the point we make a POINT of showing up at the drills with our scanners running on FD freqs, and our go bags with us.. (yeah all 6 wardens/searchers have go bags - and all have first aid cards).

We had what turned out to me a false alarm about 6 months ago - we HAD the floor 1/2 evac'd, search started, by the time the fire center in the lobby answered the warden phone, and they told me that they had tripped a false alarm, and I should stop the evac. Had to go remove the chalk marks off some doors - but so what

You always get the folks who are "It's probably a false alarm" - I've found when a person walks in and looks at them and says "MOVE...NOW" - they move.. learn the "command voice" - it work. I'm also not afraid to reach across a desk and hang up a phone, or unplug a computer. If your moving - you at least get to save the work on your PC - I get to your desk, and your still on the PC - I'll unplug it

Jeez. She should have killed a lawyer on her way out of the building, just on principle . . .

My point is that the cleaner with twenty grandchildren is just as valuable as some shirt. Its the gross disloyalty shown by the company to it's ordinary staff that most of us have an "issue" with.
If I was the CEO/Managing Director of that company, the oik who decided "Lawyers first" would have been dismissed without references the next day.
p.s. My compliments on you and your teams professional attitude. Pity there ain't a few more like you. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />