After being here for roughly a month, I started to accept and expect that start times were a suggestion not a certainty. At first, it was a difficult concept to grasp, I mean when the assignment board in the newsroom says “2018 National Summit” at 9am and your colleague tells you we’re leaving at 10am, why wouldn’t the time say 10am instead of 9am? It didn’t make sense and honestly it still doesn’t.
But, time isn’t an issue only in this newsroom. In fact, every event that I have went to cover has never started on time and always starts at least an hour later than the start time. Has it always been this way? No one ever seems to mind, in fact, it seems to take the urgency out of getting places and I’m more than sure it eliminates the desire to arrive early.
* * * *
August 1st, 8am
Sitting passenger in my morning Uber, I’m more quiet than normal, maybe it has to do with my recent not so pleasant Uber driver incident or just the fact I’m tired. As I begin to read a book off of my iPhone, my driver clears his throat.
“Can I ask you a question?”
Here goes another marriage proposal, I thought to myself. He interrupts my thoughts with:
“It’s a hard question.”
I lock my phone and turn my head in his direction.
“Hard question? Go ahead.”
He starts to inquire about why ‘blacks’ and ‘whites’ are different and unsure of the intention of his question, he continues on explaining his encounters with people of both ethnicities as an Uber driver. He tells me when he picks up white people, they are always waiting out front and more often than not send him a message explaining their location whereas black people are always inside and expect him to call them when he is outside, even though the application notifies the rider when he is outside. In addition, they always have him waiting on them. The way he is talking, I am under the impression he appreciates his ‘white’ passengers.
After minutes of him explaining his experiences, I come to the conclusion he wants to know why there is a difference in passenger behavior and I don’t think I have an answer. Instead, I ramble on about what American culture values and time is definitely valued. I further explain my reasons for waiting out front of my pickup locations and how communicating the details of my surroundings simplify the process of getting picked up. Simplifying situations allow for a faster solution and in situations like travel, time is of the essence, especially when traveling to work.
I found this conversation as an enlightening way to start my day, someone other than my university peers recognized this time concept. It was interesting my Uber driver was aware of the difference in the importance of time and he told me he had never been outside of Ghana. He told me about his past work experience, working for a German man he was always sure to be early because that was something his boss stressed. He told me,
“When Tim said five minutes, he meant five minutes.”
I smiled, what a concept.