Higher class women and children were allowed on the lifeboats first, and passengers who sailed in first class (which meant that they paid for better rooms on the ship) were allowed on before other passengers. Few of the poorer people who had paid less (called second class and third class passengers) got out safely. Stories persist of the third class passengers being locked behind massive floor-to-ceiling gates, but those stories are merely a myth. A similar event that did occur, however, was the staff of the A La Carte Restaurant being locked in their cabins overnight. They were not employed by White Star and were mostly immigrants. Only two of them, who happened to be outside their cabins when they were locked, survived. The rest drowned, locked away below decks.