I'm afraid I don't have that luxury. :\ I work in a hospital, and I'm expected to show up *especially* if something big's going down.

I think if I were in your lunchtime situation, I'd have gotten suspicious, stuffed my face with a last few bites, paid the bill, and gone back to work. The only big booms I've ever heard are from magnum rifles, thunder, dynamite, and lake ice breaking; I've never heard a sonic boom. I'd probably think a building got damaged and that the hospital would get a flood of injured victims.

As it was, I never heard anything regarding any of this over the radio or on the alert service that sends me emails, and I live near Seattle. That shows how much I need to improve at being in touch with the world.