Depends on how much you paid for the lunch. It would take a lot to pull me away from lobstertail or good seafood risotto. Seriously though, lets say you skipped dinner and hadn't eaten all day, then quickly eating your lunch might have been a good, practical decision. At the very least you could have dumped it into a bag to take with you. Can't get far on an empty stomach.

14. That said, the one time I actually heard a sonic boom I hustled back to the villa my family and I were staying in. When I arrived they accused me of knocking on the door and running away (I was maybe 13 or 14). I'd thought it was thunder, but also thought thunder in a desert was unusual. It had been a NASA SR-71 blackbird as the news later reported.

hmmm, my reaction would have been to finish lunch. If I hadn't heard sonic booms before, the only thing I'd have done is check for secondary indications. No smoke, no shaking. . . no sirens. . .

modified 11. alertly evaluate the situation with all your senses and with no more information, finish eating, it may be your last meal. . .

When you said Seattle and described the sound I immediately thought "F/A-18s out of Whidbey".

We hear sonic booms irregularly on Lake Huron from fighters heading between the training ground up north and Selfridge AFB. Over land they're rare but over open water they like to light it up.

Strange they had to scramble all the way from Oregon.

Another reason to carry cash... drop enough to cover what you ordered without question and leave.

I think that you acted correctly, without any secondary indication of anything wrong, I would have been inclined to finish my meal.

Here in London I have heard at least three terrorist bombs explode, in each case nothing would been gained by panic or running around.
I was not close enough to be injured, running around would be as likely to lead into danger as away from it.

The first bomb I heard was about 20 years ago it was 50 yards away, but was only a small one.
The next was a large vehicle bomb, I was a mile away, and saw no need for any special action.
The most recent was the one on the London undeground, near Aldgate station. I was employed in the basement of a large office building relatively near the explosion.
I was uncertain if the noise was a bomb, or a railway accident, but a deep concrete basement seemed a good place to remain.

McChord is all airlift, no combat jets afaik.
Those 'F18s" out of Whidbey are, according to Wiki, EA18's; electronic warfare jets.
The ANG out of PDX cover Central CA to the Canadian border; I see them regularly as they fly over my house when on training sorties. It's always a treat to see them take off at PDX. They put on a show.

I believe you acted correctly.

Now the decision of whether or not to go into work would be dependent upon the proximity of the heightened security requirements.

The best preparation is not to be there in the first place rather than trying to get out of something. Especially if you can avoid the situation altogether with foreknowledge.

I would've most likely done #14, too, although it's hard to imagine how the boom sounded so I think #11 could be possible, especially if I immediately remembered that the President was in town. Or let's call it #11 but without leaving. But the fact that nothing shook and you didn't feel any concussive force or hear anything else usually indicates that you aren't particularly close to any explosion and not in any immediate danger.

Actually, one could theoretically argue that leaving may not be the best choice, too, since you apparently didn't know where the sound was coming from so you could have potentially travelled into some situation. At least you were safe and unaffected right where you were.

Since those sonic booms worried so many people and clogged up the 911 dispatch center so badly, I guess they need to let the pilots of those little military jets cut loose and hit Mach 1 a little more often, so people can get used to the sound.

Call 911 to ask, "What was that sound"??? JFC! See what happens when a country has a nanny government?

If there's no debris, no dust, no fire, no alarms, and no sirens, don't get your knickers in knot.

Sue