Scene 1: The Monday Meeting
- Erik Lindqvist, 44, from Gothenburg, Sweden
- Fernanda Costa, Erik’s colleague
Erik Lindqvist, the Swedish engineering manager at the plant near São Paulo, had scheduled his weekly team meeting for 9:00 on Monday. At 8:58 he was in the meeting room, laptop open, agenda printed: seven items, ten minutes each.
At 9:00, two engineers were there. At 9:10, five. Rodrigo arrived at 9:15 with coffee and a bag of pão de queijo (warm cheese bread) for everyone. At 9:20, Erik started without Fernanda.
At 9:25, Fernanda Costa, the operations manager, hurried in, phone still in her hand, apologetic but cheerful. “Desculpa, sorry! I was talking to Sérgio from the steel supplier. His father is in hospital.”
“We started twenty minutes late,” said Erik, coolly, “and you’ve still missed the first two items.”
The room went quiet. Fernanda’s smile disappeared.
By 10:15, they had reached item four of seven, and everyone was late for their next meeting.
Scene 2: Two Clocks
- Tigist Bekele, 23, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Almaz, Tigist’s mother
Tigist Bekele, the Ethiopian flight attendant who flies for an airline based in Dubai, landed in Addis Ababa at ten at night. Two days earlier, she had worked a thirteen-hour flight from Washington. Now, for once, the roster had given her a layover at home. Her watch, her phone and the airline’s schedule all ran on international time. Her body was running on no time at all.
Her mother, Almaz, called as the crew bus was leaving the airport. “Welcome home, my daughter! Come for breakfast tomorrow. Come at two.”
Tigist smiled. In Ethiopia, many people count the hours of the day from dawn, not from midnight. So “two o’clock” in the day, Ethiopian time, means 8 a.m. And on the kitchen wall at her mother’s house hangs a calendar with thirteen months, on which the year is about seven years behind the one printed on her crew roster.
“Two o’clock,” said Tigist. “I’ll be there.”
Quick Moments
- Freiburg, Germany. Chidi Okafor, the Nigerian PhD student, is the most punctual person in his lab. But when he suggests dinner to his German labmate, Jonas, Jonas pulls out his phone: “Sure! How about the 23rd? That’s my first free evening.” That’s three weeks away. “In Enugu,” says Chidi, “if a friend says ‘let’s eat,’ you go tonight.” Being on time and planning far ahead are not the same thing.
The Other Side
Fernanda was hurt. “Sérgio has supplied us for twelve years, and his father is very sick. Should I have told him, ‘Sorry, I have a meeting’?” For Fernanda, looking after that relationship was the most important thing she did all morning. Sérgio would remember that call long after everyone had forgotten item two on the agenda. In her experience, a schedule is a guide, and people come first. Meetings start when the important people arrive, and end when the important things are settled.
For Erik, starting on time is a way of respecting people. Everyone’s time is equally valuable, and keeping seven people waiting for one isn’t fair. The late start felt disrespectful to the people who had arrived on time.
Later that week, they talked it through. Fernanda gave Erik some advice: “If something really must start on time, tell people why. And maybe don’t put seven items on a one-hour agenda.” Erik asked for one thing in return: “If you’re on an important call, send me a quick message. Then I’ll know.”
For Tigist, living with two clocks isn’t confusing. It’s a bit like being bilingual. “At work, I live by the flight schedule, to the minute. At home, I live by the sun and by my mother. Neither one is wrong. I just have to remember which one I’m in.”
What’s Going On?
Clock time and event time
The anthropologist Edward T. Hall described two ways of handling time:
- Monochronic (“one time”): time is a line, divided into slots. You do one thing at a time, schedules are important, and lateness can feel disrespectful.
- Polychronic (“many times”): time is flexible. You handle several things at once, relationships and events decide the timing, and interruptions are normal.
Today, many people describe this as clock time versus event time. In clock time, the clock decides when the meeting starts. In event time, the event decides: the meeting starts when people are ready.
Erin Meyer describes a scale running from linear-time cultures to flexible-time cultures. Her research places countries such as Germany, Switzerland and Sweden toward the linear end, and countries such as Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Kenya and Nigeria toward the flexible end. As always, individuals vary. Chidi, remember, is the most punctual person in his lab.
Neither is lazy or rigid
Each approach makes sense in its own environment. Clock time works well where trains run on time, deliveries arrive as promised, and the power never goes off, so a plan made today will probably still work tomorrow.
Event time works well where life is less predictable. When traffic, bureaucracy or the weather can change your day at any moment, rigid schedules break easily, and relationships are the most reliable thing you have. If you can’t control when the bus comes, you learn to adapt, and you learn to put people first.
“On time” depends on the occasion
Even within one culture, “on time” means different things for different events. Roughly:
| Situation | In many linear-time settings | In many flexible-time settings |
|---|---|---|
| Business meeting | Arrive a few minutes early | Arrive around the time; the meeting starts when the key people are there |
| Dinner at someone’s home | On time, or up to 10 minutes late | 30 minutes or more after the stated time may be normal |
| Party | Within 15–30 minutes of the start | Several hours of flexibility |
How far ahead do people plan?
Planning habits differ too. In many Dutch, German, Swiss and Scandinavian circles, social life is booked weeks in advance, and the diary rules. In many other places, the best plans are made on the day. Neither is unfriendly. But to a spontaneous person, “How about the 23rd?” can sound cold, and to a planner, “Let’s see tonight” can sound chaotic.
Postcards
Tokyo area, Japan. In 2017, a train on the Tsukuba Express line left a station 20 seconds early. The rail company issued a formal public apology for the “severe inconvenience” caused to passengers.
Near Málaga, Spain. Graham and Sue Whitfield, British retirees, are invited by their Spanish neighbor, Carmen, to dinner “at nine.” To be safe, they eat a sandwich at six. They knock on her door at nine sharp. Carmen is still chopping onions, and dinner appears at a quarter to eleven.
“Come at eight.” What time do you actually arrive? In Berlin, guests often ring the doorbell at 8:00 or 8:05. In Buenos Aires, arriving at 8:00 for a dinner party might mean finding your hosts still in the shower; 30 to 60 minutes later is more usual. In Lagos, the real fun at a big party may not start until about ten, and many Lagosians joke about this themselves. (For business meetings, the expectations in each city may be quite different again.)
Try This
- Ask, with a smile: “Is that nine o’clock exactly, or nine-ish?” In many countries, people joke about their own “local time,” and the question is welcome.
- In clock-time settings: arrive on time. If you’re going to be late, send a message before the start, not after.
- In event-time settings: bring something to do, build extra time into your plans, and don’t take lateness as disrespect.
- When timing really matters, explain why. “The client’s flight leaves at eleven, so we must start at nine sharp.”
- Ask about planning: “How far ahead do people usually make plans here?”
- In a mixed team, agree on your own rules, such as “We start on time” or “We wait ten minutes, then begin.”
Pause and Reflect
- What does “on time” mean to you for a work meeting, a dinner at a friend’s house, and a party?
- Are you a planner or a “let’s see” person? How might the other kind of person see you?
Key Takeaways
- Some cultures treat time as a schedule (clock time); others let it bend around people and events (event time).
- Neither is lazy or rigid. They’re answers to different environments.
- “On time” depends on the occasion, even within one culture.
- When timing matters, say so, and explain why.