time is relative

I was taking a break from work and sorting blogs I used to frequent to see if anything relevant's been going on and re-found the golden nugget that is stuff white people like.

Being in Spain has warped my sense of time a bit. This is a country where time is often a very subjective matter given that siesta time is from 2-ish to 5-ish depending on the store, and most stores open at 9am-ish and bars and other places close at 4am-ish or whenever people get tired and want to go home (6am-ish). Needless to say, when I go back to the states I'll take some time to adapt to going out at 10pm instead of midnight, and bars and clubs closing at 2am as opposed to 4am or 6am...

Anyhow, bigger chain stores and franchises stick to scheduled and posted times much like their counterparts in the States, but smaller shops are a very different ball game. What's surprised me a bit is that it sometimes extends to business. For example, I've been to a few meetings and seminars and other functions where people arrive on time, but things get started 5 to 10-ish minutes after the hour and people use that time to chat and mingle until things get started. In a sense, it reminds me of MIT, where we start classes 5 mins after the hour and end them 5 mins before the hour. The one exception I've found to the 10 minute-ish rule are meetings with executives from other companies... perhaps it's the fact that things are more formal when several executives are involved as opposed to meetings within the company.

With this difference in time perception and cultures in mind, I found a particular entry that made me laugh. A lot.

White people love: Being Excessively Early For Events, Classes, Meetings, Work, Parties, Etc

White people will frequently show up to various events 15- 35 minutes early for no reason at all. A favorite quote used to explain this phenomenon is “Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable”. What this means and why they live by this quote no one really knows, but it is a mantra that white people frequently recite to themselves every morning, as means or ensuring their timeliness to whatever function, they will be attending.

There is only one exception to this rule, which is when there is a limited supply of something that is deemed ultra-important by the white community, such as concert tickets, computers or other sale electronics, or reality television spots. White people may show up, 8- 24 hours early, instead of the normal 15-35 minutes, for these special cases, even if it means sleeping on the street in middle of winter (which is also referred to as camping) and foregoing “non-essential” things such as showering, brushing your teeth, and even eating...