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In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

bbc.com

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Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#81

Post by arendtio »

godzilla82 wrote: post #45
poulsbohemian wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the culture. Historically if you told a German 5:00, that meant 5:00 - nor 4:59, not 5:01. "Fashionably late" is an American thing.

Just curious if the German trait you mentioned you have witnessed first hand or hearsay?

Well, as a German, I can tell you that we take timing seriously and for business meetings, there is just one time the meeting starts.

Party timing is still something many of us struggle with as not every host does it the same. Some like the guests to arrive on time, others have adopted the more international habit of not expecting anybody during the first hour.

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#82

Post by stelonix »

gota wrote: post #43
dakial1 wrote: post #7

That's not overall in Brazil. I live in Sao Paulo and it's certainly not rude to arrive on time or closer to that time. The time is usually a reference of "arrive after that time" and people will arrive in the hour or two after the time set. Usually closer friends will arrive earlier and not so close friends will arrive late because the party will be already full.

I have no idea where the author got the generalization that this is a rule "everywhere in Brazil". It's at most more or less a custom in Rio , and no other places that I know of. In southern Brazil not arriving within half hour of the appointes time is in fact disrespectful Besides this is only for social appointments . Try to arrive a couple hours late for a meeting and you'll find yourself talking to your boss aboi…

I am Brazilian and can confirm: in pretty much every state I've been to (some 10 in total), no event starts on time, there's always a delay, even if minuscule.

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#83

Post by louhike »

andersonmvd wrote: post #20

I hope you all remember that Brazil is too big to assume that everyone is the same, thus everyone will be late to all appointments. It happens a lot, yes. But be careful to label people in advance. Many (!) Brazilians work overseas, including in Germany, and I'm sure those are not late as the article suggests for example :) Also, what would be crazy for many people that live in small countries compared to Brazil, is…

Yes "cultural differences" have sometimes their roots in the infrastructure or economy of the country.

I remember some years ago that my (french) boss was often frustrated with our indian colleagues being late or having delays in their work. Then I spent an internship with them and I understand. It was much harder for them to go from their home to the office and the conditions were far worse for them.

But it's hard for a lot of people to realize these differences and empathize without having to live under the same circumstances.

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#84

Post by chrischen »

cm2187 wrote: post #68
jacobwilliamroy wrote: post #24

"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…

It's amusing and in line with what my grand mother who grew up in the early 1900s Indochina told me about her (french) dad doing business there. The Chinese had the reputation to be super reliable and men of their word, while the Japanese had the reputation to be unreliable and ready to cross you at the first opportunity. On a longer time scale, it is hard when you look at Italy or Greece today to think of how the sa…

The unreliableness of Chinese-made goods is usually due to incompetent Western firms cost-cutting and communication errors arising from cross-globe, cross-language collaborations. It's unfortunate nobody blames the CEOs for made-in-China, just the Chinese people for making it.

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#85

Post by southerndrift »

jacobwilliamroy wrote: post #60
freddie_mercury wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.....

"Korean time" used to be a thing. Before the "Miracle on the Han river" (which was actually a carefully orchestrated economic development program run by the South Korean government and not a "miracle" at all) South Korea was one of the poorest countries on earth.

Being poor doesn't proof not being on time. It just means that they didn't have access to technologies that could have improved their efficiency.

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#86

Post by acchow »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #26
acchow wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Depends on the culture. Historically if you told a German 5:00, that meant 5:00 - nor 4:59, not 5:01. "Fashionably late" is an American thing.

I just don't understand how this works at a house party.

You invite 20 people over for a BBQ at 2pm. Here's possible conversations I can envision in America:

"Thanks for the invite! I actually have a haircut appointment at 2, but I'll come right after"

or

"Thanks for the invite, but I have a a haircut appointment at 2..." "what? No worries! Come join whenever you can; we want to see you!" "Great. I will thanks!"

So how would it go in Germany?

"Sorry, I am busy and can't make it"

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#87

Post by dudus »

Since this is all anecdotes anyway I'll post mine. I was working in Brazil and even though our main office was in Sao Paulo we were interviewing for our Rio branch. Of the 12 candidates we were expecting only 2 showed up, both late due to traffic. The other 10 just never showed up. Their excuses varied but people around the office shrugged the phenomenon as expected due to the early time of the interview and the fact that it "deu praia" meaning it was sunny and they probably just went to the beach instead.

It was a bit mind boggling to me since I was used to the behavior in Sao Paulo where delays were possible but usually not common and no shows were rare.

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#88

Post by baud147258 »

jacobwilliamroy wrote: post #66
johnchristopher wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, what ? What makes you think (and other commentators) that it's the Japaneses who changed and not the view held by post-colonialists ? (Managers complaining about their workers ? How weird)

It wasn't just the Japanese. "Korean time" was a thing back when Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. Germans also used to be stereotyped as dishonest, thieving, dull and overly emotional before their country industrialized. There is correlation between stereotypes and GDP.

Like the sterotypes common in (Western) Europe regarding Eastern Europe, like for the Polish people?

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#89

Post by kingofhdds »

jacobwilliamroy wrote: post #66
johnchristopher wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, what ? What makes you think (and other commentators) that it's the Japaneses who changed and not the view held by post-colonialists ? (Managers complaining about their workers ? How weird)

It wasn't just the Japanese. "Korean time" was a thing back when Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. Germans also used to be stereotyped as dishonest, thieving, dull and overly emotional before their country industrialized. There is correlation between stereotypes and GDP.

>Germans also used to be stereotyped as dishonest, thieving, dull and overly emotional before their country industrialized.

Any links on this?

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#90

Post by afterburner »

nasredin wrote: post #34
foobarian wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is some etiquette involved. You don't want to be the first person there, just as you should avoid being the 'lingerer' who stays too long or even worse needs to be asked to leave explicitly.

Why don't you want to be the first person? I've heard of "fashionably late", never anything about "early". IME early bird gets all the good nachos. And you can leave earlier.

Are you thinking only of parties with friends? Arriving early can be an awkward and intense social situation; it's just you and the hosts.
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