51–60 of 381 posts
One characteristic of the latter is, they can't say "no" to anyone. Generally they get late because someone else asked them a favor or to do something "urgent". This trait affects them in many other areas of life as well: overpromising, overcommitting, etc.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In India we call it "Indian time'. Nobody is expected to arrive at a party venue before 1 hour past the announced time.
Does everyone state times an hour earlier than they want to correct for this rule? Is this just time for the party's hosts to perform a certain function? ( Punctuality is heavily engrained in me, and I can't understand the point of a time if its to be disregarded as a matter of policy )
Certainly seems like that to me. I've arrived at wedding functions at the exact time mentioned in the invite and even the hosts weren't present. I had to wait 30 min for them to show up.
I don't think this is just a Brazilian thing. When I throw parties in the US nobody shows up until 30 mins after the start time, and the peak of people showing up is between 60 and 90 minutes after start time. The exception to this is dinner parties, where people are much more punctual because they know you're planning the meal timeline.
If there's 20 people going to a party, does anyone think the "start time" is really when you're supposed to be there? I think of it more as "don't come before this time".
I work with brazillians often, we have an office there. It's easy to accommodate as well -- I just do the same thing I do with my mother: tell her the start time is way earlier than it actually is, and then she is on time. For example if dinner is at 6:45, I tell her dinner is at 6:15, and expect her to arrive 30 minutes late. You have to tweak it a bit for different situations (for example, a meeting, is about -15,…
I'm not accusng you of lying but this story is extremely suspicious. It conflicts completely with my professional and personal experience, which I'm pretty sure is close to the general truth. Unless you have found yourself working with a very peculiar group of people, you are being duped or just exaggerating to the point of being outright wrong. It is absolutely not a custom anywhere in Brazil, not even in Rio, to be…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And losing a world war? Something really shocking has to happen for the whole country to rethink ways of doing things.
Applied to other countries, what did the second one teach that the first didn’t?
“Repetition is the mother of all learning”
"My impression as to your cheap labour was soon disillusioned when I saw your people at work. No doubt they are lowly paid, but the return is equally so; to see your men at work made me feel that you are a very satisfied and easy-going race who reckon time is no object. When I spoke to some managers they informed me that it was impossible to change the habits of a national heritage." This excerpt appears in Ha-Joon C…
I work with brazillians often, we have an office there. It's easy to accommodate as well -- I just do the same thing I do with my mother: tell her the start time is way earlier than it actually is, and then she is on time. For example if dinner is at 6:45, I tell her dinner is at 6:15, and expect her to arrive 30 minutes late. You have to tweak it a bit for different situations (for example, a meeting, is about -15,…
I'm not accusng you of lying but this story is extremely suspicious. It conflicts completely with my professional and personal experience, which I'm pretty sure is close to the general truth. Unless you have found yourself working with a very peculiar group of people, you are being duped or just exaggerating to the point of being outright wrong. It is absolutely not a custom anywhere in Brazil, not even in Rio, to be…
My observation, being born and having lived in Brazil for my whole life, is that there's a power/authority/seniority dynamic involved, too: If you have a meeting with a customer, you should be on time, but it's okay for them to be late. When meeting with your boss, they'll probably be late, but you probably shouldn't be. Internal meetings within the company usually start later than meetings with other companies. Once you know people professionally for a longer time, you'll also be more comfortable arriving later.
"My impression as to your cheap labour was soon disillusioned when I saw your people at work. No doubt they are lowly paid, but the return is equally so; to see your men at work made me feel that you are a very satisfied and easy-going race who reckon time is no object. When I spoke to some managers they informed me that it was impossible to change the habits of a national heritage." This excerpt appears in Ha-Joon C…
So how long does it take to change the mindset and behavior of a complete country? ~80 years?
I think that time is not really a factor here. Institutions like the IMF and WTO passively suppress the economic development of poor countries by withholding incentives unless they behave like rich countries. I don't think this is done out of malice though, because I've met people who genuinely believe that forcing businesses in Mozambique to compete directly with the U.S. economies of scale "creates a level playing field" and doesn't inhibit their growth in certain key industries at all.
"My impression as to your cheap labour was soon disillusioned when I saw your people at work. No doubt they are lowly paid, but the return is equally so; to see your men at work made me feel that you are a very satisfied and easy-going race who reckon time is no object. When I spoke to some managers they informed me that it was impossible to change the habits of a national heritage." This excerpt appears in Ha-Joon C…
Similarly, I read Pachinko a novel about Koreans in Japan in the period 1910-1940 (mostly). Koreans were all lazy, unintelligent, untrustworthy thieves. A stereotype that few would still hold today.....