A *heh* Timely Poll

[packbat]

Naming no names, of course.

Edit: And greetings to all the peeps from the_zaniak chiming in!

Edit #2: And thequestionclub! (Wow, that's a lot of people.)

[Poll #1166935]

Comments

[obfuscate.livejournal.com]

Seriously. My boyfriend was an hour late once and didn't call and when we finally talked about it he said, "Okay, when do I need to call? If I'm 15 minutes late?" And I said YES OF COURSE, and he was all astounded that fifteen minutes would warrant a phone call and then I stabbed him.

Not that last part.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I've met people who are unpunctual that way. I wonder if it's a social thing?

[obfuscate.livejournal.com]

People just have very different approaches to timeliness. It definitely differs regionally.

I'm amazed by how many people think you're not late until well after the scheduled time.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know how many people think that way - part of the purpose of this (probably mostly useless) poll, actually. ;)

[rociodelmar.livejournal.com]

YES, definately differs by region! I'm Puerto Rican, and here, if you want someone to be at a gathering "on time" you have to tell the person for example, to get there at 5:00 or 5:30 of you want them to be there at 6:00. With some people you have to saw it's even an hour or two earlier.

This is very typical of us, actually and well, I'm used to it because I do it too sometimes. Doesn't happen with everything and not everyone, but it happens a lot. It's interesting to see how extremely punctual everyone here is!

[andalusi.livejournal.com]

It's how my family is. Some of my friends are that way, too, and some aren't.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Any commonalities to suggest whence the difference?

[andalusi.livejournal.com]

I hate to perpetuate a stereotype, but my family is mostly from Mexico or else second and third generation Mexican-American. It's primarily when we're in Mexico that we operate under a looser sense of time.

With my friends, though, no real commonalities that I can think of.

[just-whelmed.livejournal.com]

I have also noticed a cultural difference in people's perspective on time. Mexican and Indian (not Native American) cultures specifically don't have as strict a sense of time as White American culture.

[andalusi.livejournal.com]

I noticed in Egypt and when I hung out with Lebanese students in college, there was also a looser sense of time.

The thing is that there isn't just one default position here. To some people, a time is a specific point and cannot be any other point; to others, a time is more of a cluster of possibilities around a center, any of which counts as that time.

[just-whelmed.livejournal.com]

For sure- it can depend on culture other than ethnicity as well. Like other people have said, in a professional culture, being late is a bigger deal, while in a more informal setting, you get maybe a half hour leeway.

[musicluvr325.livejournal.com]

Hahaha.

Yeah, it's just nice to hear "Okay, sorry, I'm late. I'll be there as soon as I can."