How Late Does Your Cultural Clock Run?

• 15 years ago

Does the culture you live within run slightly late, early, or precisely on time? Last week when I wrote about how to set your watch to South American time I mentioned that the perception of time is culturally variable. I thought many of you would have some stories or anecdotes about this sort of ‘secondary’ time zone change we all go through.

How late or on time do the people from your culture tend to be?

I can tell you from my experience that Turks tend to run about 30-45 minutes late but the Swedes are generally 5 minutes early or right on time. I often find if difficult to speed my personal clock up in countries like Germany and Switzerland where things tend to happen on time.

I’d like to hear how you’ve coped with the changing pace of life during your travels and am looking forward to your comments.

[photo by: deeleea]