It's Racist to be "On Time"

[Ana the Ist]

I know this happened last year...but I had to post it after I saw it. It would be sad if it weren't so hilarious...

Apparently It's Now Racist To Expect People To Show Up On Time

One of the online slides depicted two groups, which included foreign professors and students, showing up to a scheduled event at 9 a.m.; one group came 15 minutes early and the other came 10 minutes late. The slide made the assertion that it would not be the inclusive thing to do to chastise the group that was late, since people must "recognize cultural differences that may impact the meeting and adjust accordingly.”

Obviously, this is ridiculous stuff...if people agree to meet at a certain time, it's just polite to arrive on time (especially if it's a professional setting). To suggest that certain races or cultures struggle with achieving this is far more racist than anything suggested in the article.

 

[Arcangl86]

I know this happened last year...but I had to post it after I saw it. It would be sad if it weren't so hilarious...

Apparently It's Now Racist To Expect People To Show Up On Time



Obviously, this is ridiculous stuff...if people agree to meet at a certain time, it's just polite to arrive on time (especially if it's a professional setting). To suggest that certain races or cultures struggle with achieving this is far more racist than anything suggested in the article.

Actually attitudes about time and promptness are very culturally dependent.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Actually attitudes about time and promptness are very culturally dependent.

Even if I were to take your word for it...that wouldn't make "expecting someone to be on time" racist.

Out of curiosity, what "cultures" find being late acceptable?

 

[LivingWordUnity]

It's the racism of low expectations.

 

[RDKirk]

Even if I were to take your word for it...that wouldn't make "expecting someone to be on time" racist.

Out of curiosity, what "cultures" find being late acceptable?

There are such, and I know some of them and have been to some of those countries, but I don't subscribe to it being "racist" to expect that level of acclimation out of people who are in a different nation.

If I were in those nations, I'd acclimate to how they live and not be offended for people to come late to a party.

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

.

 

[Arcangl86]

Even if I were to take your word for it...that wouldn't make "expecting someone to be on time" racist.

Out of curiosity, what "cultures" find being late acceptable?

Most of Latin America, Southern Europe, the Middle East, large chunks of Africa. If you are interested in this, look up the difference between monochronic and polychronic.

And as for the racism piece, enforcing your own cultural expectations on people from different cultures is problematic at best.

 

[seeking.IAM]

I spend some time in the Caribbean. Anybody who does talks about "island time." It's a thing. On the island I frequent a common phrase is "soon come." You call for the repairman. He says, "soon come." He starts out for you villa, but he sees a friend along the road and stops to chat. They decide to get a beer. He looks at his watch and decides there is no more time left to finish your job today. Soon come becomes tomorrow. Maybe.

The only racist view is expecting that all cultures are going to look at the concept of time they same way you do.

 

[TheBear]

Expecting people to show up on time, for things like classes, work, and flights, is racist.

Got it.

 

[RDKirk]

Most of Latin America, Southern Europe, the Middle East, large chunks of Africa. If you are interested in this, look up the difference between monochronic and polychronic.

And as for the racism piece, enforcing your own cultural expectations on people from different cultures is problematic at best.

Not when they're in your town.

Where does that stop? If it's "problematic at best" to expect someone who is a train operator or pilot in the US to make a stop on time, then it's problematic to expect him to give up arranging a marriage of his 13-year-old child, which is a far more important facet of his culture than learning to use a watch.

In his town, yes. In your town, no.

 

[Glass*Soul]

I know this happened last year...but I had to post it after I saw it. It would be sad if it weren't so hilarious...

Apparently It's Now Racist To Expect People To Show Up On Time



Obviously, this is ridiculous stuff...if people agree to meet at a certain time, it's just polite to arrive on time (especially if it's a professional setting). To suggest that certain races or cultures struggle with achieving this is far more racist than anything suggested in the article.

Struggling to achieve promptness and feeling that it is less conducive to a good meeting to be precisely prompt at all costs are quite different things.

In the right hands, a less structured, more malleable approach can end up making a meeting more productive. Easing into things. Unwinding enough to let our brains work. Getting a good reading on one another. Lingering afterwards. However, there tend to be tensions when cultures and expectations clash. Some of us find a slower, looser approach so unfamiliar that we just don't understand how to work with it instead of against it. We might get angry and flustered.

When we do, it will help to take a broader view and appreciate that what is happening is indeed a culture clash and not the result of the other parties struggling or being incapable or infantile (to use two terms from the article) or, to put the shoe on the other foot, for others to resist perceiving us as overanxious, hurried or rude when they see us pointedly tapping our watches.

Throwing the word "racist" at the whole question, as this article does, is truly unprofessional. It adds nothing toward helping people from different cultures work together. Good faith, my friend. Good faith.

 

[Glass*Soul]

Expecting people to show up on time, for things like classes, work, and flights, is racist.

Got it.

That sums up the article, but perhaps not the gist of the training.

Possible?

 

[Ana the Ist]

There are such, and I know some of them and have been to some of those countries, but I don't subscribe to it being "racist" to expect that level of acclimation out of people who are in a different nation.

If I were in those nations, I'd acclimate to how they live and not be offended for people to come late to a party.

Indeed...I believe that's the meaning of the idiom "when in Rome...". Frankly, I don't think it's all that rude to show up late to a party or other informal social event (unless we're talking about being really late)...after all, it's about having fun. In a professional setting though, it's extremely rude...it's a bit like claiming that your time is more valuable than everyone else's.

I'm still curious about which people/cultures find it acceptable. I don't claim to be well traveled...but it sounds counterproductive to a society. I can only imagine a business meeting in one of these places...where everyone shows up late and the meeting doesn't start till a couple hours off schedule.

 

[Ana the Ist]

I spend some time in the Caribbean. Anybody who does talks about "island time." It's a thing. On the island I frequent a common phrase is "soon come." You call for the repairman. He says, "soon come." He starts out for you villa, but he sees a friend along the road and stops to chat. They decide to get a beer. He looks at his watch and decides there is no more time left to finish your job today. Soon come becomes tomorrow. Maybe.

The only racist view is expecting that all cultures are going to look at the concept of time they same way you do.

Wow...I wonder if anyone has studied these sorts of cultural differences and how they relate to unemployment disparities or pay rates.

Even if someone doesn't have the same cultural understanding of time that I do...surely they have an understanding of integrity? You know, the concept of "doing what you say you will do"?

 

[TheBear]

And let's not forget first responders taking their cultural time arriving at the scene. Or how about defense attorneys always showing up late to trials. (I'm sure the judges would factor in 'cultural differences' every time.)

 

[Glass*Soul]

Not when they're in your town.

Where does that stop? If it's "problematic at best" to expect someone who is a train operator or pilot in the US to make a stop on time, then it's problematic to expect him to give up arranging a marriage of his 13-year-old child, which is a far more important facet of his culture than learning to use a watch.

In his town, yes. In your town, no.

Is it possible that if you went to another country with a differing culture that you might not intuit all of the nuances, even for quite a while? If you were inadvertently getting off on the wrong foot by showing up inconveniently early, would you appreciate if they knew enough about your culture to not perceive you as being deliberately ill mannered or even immaturity whiny about punctuality? Even if it is their town? Would you appreciate some good will and time to adjust?

 

[Ana the Ist]

Struggling to achieve promptness and feeling that it is less conducive to a good meeting to be precisely prompt at all costs are quite different things.

In the right hands, a less structured, more malleable approach can end up making a meeting more productive. Easing into things. Unwinding enough to let our brains work. Getting a good reading on one another. Lingering afterwards. However, there tend to be tensions when cultures and expectations clash. Some of us find a slower, looser approach so unfamiliar that we just don't understand how to work with it instead of against it. We might get angry and flustered.

When we do, it will help to take a broader view and appreciate that what is happening is indeed a culture clash and not the result of the other parties struggling or being incapable or infantile (to use two terms from the article) or, to put the shoe on the other foot, for others to resist perceiving us as overanxious, hurried or rude when they see us pointedly tapping our watches.

Throwing the word "racist" at the whole question, as this article does, is truly unprofessional. It adds nothing toward helping people from different cultures work together. Good faith, my friend. Good faith.

To be fair, it's a Clemson University "diversity training" material of some kind that frames the expectation of punctuality as "racist". The article I linked is simply using the terminology from Clemson University.

 

[TheBear]

How about employers issuing paychecks, culturally late.

 

[seeking.IAM]

Wow...I wonder if anyone has studied these sorts of cultural differences and how they relate to unemployment disparities or pay rates.

Even if someone doesn't have the same cultural understanding of time that I do...surely they have an understanding of integrity? You know, the concept of "doing what you say you will do"?

Oh, they'll do what they say they will do, just not on your time schedule. The upside is that so many of us like the islands for their relaxed way of life, including the reduced pressure of not being married to a clock. We unwind when we are there. There is also a value of relationships over timeliness. People will stop their car in front of you to talk to a friend along the road. Here, there would be plenty of horns honking and we would call them inconsiderate (of our rush to get somewhere.) There you wait patiently because you're in no hurry to get somewhere either and time isn't as important as in our culture.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Is it possible that if you went to another country with a differing culture that you might not intuit all of the nuances, even for quite a while? If you were inadvertently getting off on the wrong foot by showing up inconveniently early, would you appreciate if they knew enough about your culture to not perceive you as being deliberately ill mannered or even immaturity whiny about punctuality? Even if it is their town? Would you appreciate some good will and time to adjust?

If you show up 15 minutes early for a meeting with someone who shows up 15 minutes late...how could they possibly be upset with you? For all they know, you showed up 10 minutes late to the meeting lol.