Today I experience ‘reverse culture shock’ (that I recognized) for the first time after coming back to Thailand.
I have grown up with the concept of being ‘fashionably late’ for my entire life. However, I suppose, living in the US where one can always count on things and calculate almost everything in life with relative preciseness has changed my perspective on punctuality.
Don’t get me wrong. I used to suck at time management and being punctual (and I still do now from time to time). Nevertheless, living and having met (and dealt) with a lot of different people from various cultures tells me that ‘time is really precious’ and thus I should try to make sure that it is well spent. So, if I have a meeting with someone, I will try my very best to be on time or at least in time. When I have to be late (of course, shit happens and I am still learning about time management), I have to be sure to inform the other person in advance that I would be late for how long so that they can act and manage their time accordingly.
Unfortunately, my time was treated differently today. It was me who expected that things will go as planned while the other party was being fashionably late.
This is a true reverse culture shock I experienced today.
1/4/2018 11.05 pm
