A story from From Lance Dixon:

Sid was a great mentor to me from the time I arrived at SLAC in 1986. His personality set the tone for the SLAC theory group: open doors, a friendly atmosphere, and long-running seminars with the audience constantly peppering the speaker with questions.

Sid was also a very busy guy in those years, deputy director of the lab and busy with many high-profile arms control issues. And of course he had certain diplomatic skills. At the SLAC theory seminars, Sid always sat near the door to the seminar room. I began to notice that about 15 minutes into basically every seminar, he would get a note from his administrative assistant, Bonnie Rose, indicating that he had received a phone call. If the seminar was a good one, Sid would crumple up the note and continue to listen. But if not, he would discreetly leave the room in order to return the "phone call". I always wanted to find one of those crumpled-up notes to see if anything was actually written on it...