Friday, March 2, 2007

Peruvian Punctuality ? ? ?

I was watching the news online this afternoon when I heard something hilarious. The country of Peru (Chile's northern neighbor) is cracking down on being chronically late. Here are some excerpts from the news stories (1, 2).
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Peru's government says it's time for an attitude adjustment.

On a recent Friday — known as sabado chico, or "little Saturday," because workers tend to have their minds on weekend parties — the government announced a campaign to combat lateness, saying it reflects a negative attitude toward work and hurts productivity.

A government-led council of business and citizens groups responsible for the effort, says La Hora sin Demora, or "Time without Delay," will begin with a nationally televised ceremony in Lima on March 1 at noon. Sharp.
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Symbolic bells and sirens will sound, alerting 27 million Peruvians to synchronize their watches.

The government wants to take some of the mañana out of Peruvian life.
Mañana, meaning "tomorrow," is an age-old euphemism for the lateness and procrastination that are common in Latin America. Weddings, funerals, meals and business meetings rarely begin on time, and it's even considered rude to be punctual for a party.

However, the campaign offers no rewards for compliance or penalties for tardiness.

"The goal is for citizens in general, not just public officials, to undergo a change in mental attitude to start fulfilling their obligations," Cabinet chief Jorge del Castillo said.

But according to a poll by Apoyo, Peru's leading pollster, one problem is that most Peruvians think it's the other guy who's always late. Nearly 80 percent of respondents said they are punctual, but only 3 percent think others are, too.

"(We must) stop this horrible, pitiful, disastrous custom of failing to be punctual," he intoned in a speech, inveighing against the $5-billion in annual economic damage caused, Peru's President Alan Garcia (see picture above) said, by being late.

Tallying tardiness, Peruvians' as a whole were annually late by three billion hours. That works out to over 107 hours of tardiness for every man, woman and child...

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By the way...the symbolic bell and sirens that sounded was said to have been 20 seconds late. (At least it is a start, right?)

Can you imagine the tension by a missionary who desires to start a service on time, but no one is there? While this issue isn't as strong in Chile, it is still a tendency.

What are you like?
Do you tend to be early, right on time, or a little late?
If you are like me, I get grumpy if I am not early

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