Rollercoaster Tycoon has the same mechanic—not only was each person a discrete, persistent individual, they had their own unique mood, stamina, hunger, tolerance for waiting, and individual tastes in amusements, food, etc.
To be fair, I'd be quite disorientated too if a huge magic hand came down from the sky and transported me to another location. ;-)
In all seriousness, I can forgive that kind of bug because it's the players manipulating the game in a non-realistic manner. If you don't push the sims about manually then mechanics were quite well done. In this, however, we're talking basic AI failing which is central to the game.