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.
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.
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.
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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.
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