Josh: I was only about ten minutes late. Anyway, the boss didn’t say anything about it.
Maggie: As a friend, I must give you a warning. You should understand that Americans treasure time.
Josh: What do you mean?
Maggie: You see, for them time is tangible. It’s a thing. “Time is money.” You can “spend time”, “waste time”, “save time”. You can even “kill time”!
Josh: Does this strong sense of time affect their lifestyle?
Maggie: If you’re 20 minutes late for a business appointment, the other persons will be annoyed. They may not trust you anymore. Today you were ten minutes late for work. That was bad enough.
Josh: I was caught in a traffic jam. What could I have done?
Maggie: You should have called the secretary to say you might be late. I learned the importance of punctuality when I studied at an American university.
Josh: Tell me about it.
Maggie: Some students were late handing in assignments and the professors gave them poor marks. One professor even refused to read a term paper that was turned in after the deadline.
Josh: But as far as I know, English-speaking people may be 15-30 minutes late for a dinner party.
Maggie: That’s true. For an informal occasion like that, punctuality is not so important. Also, a boss may keep his employees waiting for a long time.
Josh: But if his secretary is late, she’s in trouble. She will probably be reprimanded.
Maggie: How true!
