This is just butt stupid, but here goes: some years ago, before 9/11, I was at work in a big ol’ office building on a large corporate campus. My building was right next to corporate headquarters, and housed primarily accounting and finance folks, including Accounts Payable and Purchasing.
One unremarkable weekday morning I was on the third floor in my office when I got a breathless phone call from my friend who managed Payroll. She told me to get myself and my people the heck out of cubeland and into a safe place. There were armed guys dressed in commando outfits storming the building - she could see them out the window from her ground floor office.
I jumped up and shouted at all my direct reports to get into the storage room RIGHT NOW. We (4 of us) hunkered down with the invoice stock for a few minutes until I ventured out to check things out. I crept over to a window and saw a shit ton of cops and EMT vehicles out front, with EMS folks going in the building. Called my friend back and she told me the coast was clear, so I then went and talked to the police officer in charge, who told me the same thing.
After I sprang the other department members from the storage area, we learned the truth: one of our knuckleheaded vendors dressed up some of their employees as ninjas, complete with hoods and fake swords and machine guns, for fuck’s sake, as a “promotion” to offer us discounts or some such stupidity. Several “ninjas” were arrested, the vendor was dropped like a used condom, and formal charges were brought against the vendor company.
I cannot even imagine what would have happened if this had been AFTER 9/11.