Are We Late?
After we blog about how our kids learn from us - good or bad - in this post, Agusset wrote in his blog that there is another thing that we hate but teach our kids:
Our always being late. He wrote that our lack of discipline can set a wrong example for our children. Make them think that it is ok to be late. Think that being on time is not really important.
Yes, we admit. We are not always on time. We have our share of listening to 'sorry I am late' excuses as much as making them up ourselves.
One colleague argues: "We are never on time because we have such a handy excuse for being late..."
Ah, yes.
"Sorry I am late,"
"Traffic jam..."
But of course those who arrived on time and had to wait for the slackers to come in can always interject by using the Ellen Degeneres' remark:
"How do you think I got here? Helicoptered in?"
Throughout the years we had many meetings, and with many meetings, comes many 'sorry I am late' excuses. We heard (and made) so many excuses we sometimes do not know anymore whether they are the truth or just plain lies. You just say your excuse and it is soon forgotten.
But there are some excuses people said that are just so interesting we still remember them until now.
And it is fascinating to learn, that in some cases, the more bizarre the excuse, the closer it is to the truth.
Read the following excuses and see which ones do you think are closer to the truth:
Our always being late. He wrote that our lack of discipline can set a wrong example for our children. Make them think that it is ok to be late. Think that being on time is not really important.
Yes, we admit. We are not always on time. We have our share of listening to 'sorry I am late' excuses as much as making them up ourselves.
One colleague argues: "We are never on time because we have such a handy excuse for being late..."
Ah, yes.
"Sorry I am late,"
"Traffic jam..."
But of course those who arrived on time and had to wait for the slackers to come in can always interject by using the Ellen Degeneres' remark:
"How do you think I got here? Helicoptered in?"
Throughout the years we had many meetings, and with many meetings, comes many 'sorry I am late' excuses. We heard (and made) so many excuses we sometimes do not know anymore whether they are the truth or just plain lies. You just say your excuse and it is soon forgotten.
But there are some excuses people said that are just so interesting we still remember them until now.
And it is fascinating to learn, that in some cases, the more bizarre the excuse, the closer it is to the truth.
Read the following excuses and see which ones do you think are closer to the truth:
- "Sorry I am late. As I stepped out of the office, a client called."
- "Sorry I am late. I had to do an emergency conference-call with head office.."
- "Sorry I am late. A big trailer nose-dived from the fly-over and crashed 200 meter in front of my car. I was stuck in traffic for hours..."
- "Sorry I am late. I have so much to do because my colleague is hospitalized. He was struck by lightning at a golf course..."
posted by Indonesia Anonymus | 7:34 PM
5 Comments:
I think no excuses are true, all have funny reasons. The true it self is "you are late!" nothing more... :)
What about: "Sorry I'm late. A dove flew into my eye"
hi guys, the fourth one i guess...:-D
Maybe it's because everybody expects everybody else being late. So, being late is the the best thing to do.
Nobody want to spend half an hour waiting for others to come, right?
Unless of course the meeting is very important, and being late costs us dearly.
So, again, like bribing, it's perhaps OK if kids are taught how to being late smartly ;)
I grew up on of your many islands. At this point I won't tell you which one or why or who I am. As a westerner and as a long time observer, your great archipelago is particularly entrancing, but also troublesome to me. Your discussion on "being late" has made me all to aware of how western thought is shaping Indonesian society. In college we used to call it Event-orientation verses Time-orientation. Event oriented people and societies focus on the event itself rather than the time it took to get there, stay there, and leave. It's more appealing to me to be event oriented. Maybe it's not as "productive" but what's more valuable?
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