Time and…Coffee?

by :: Anamaria

How often do you buy coffee to go?

No, really – this is not a rhetorical question – how often?

What could this question possibly have to do with time? With culture? What about those questions from a recent post…what could they have to do with time?

photo by hawaii

I still remember the first time I read and thought about time from a cross-cultural perspective. I was shocked to realize how much of our every day life is shaped by our perceptions of time. Time is a much more complex notion than we might first think.

And it goes well beyond the notion of punctuality.

For instance, I remember being very troubled one very early Saturday morning when I woke up in my U.S. host family’s house to the sound of a neighbor’s lawnmower. Back then I remember thinking who makes this much noise at 8 am on a Saturday?

In Romanian apartment complexes there is this unwritten rule that you are not supposed to make much noise before 10 a.m. on weekends. That was my first clue that 8 a.m. on Saturday in Romania was not the same thing as 8 a.m. on Saturday in the U.S.

So let’s think of some aspects of our lives that are influenced by our perception of time. Here are 4:

1. Our communication style. This means if you are monochronic, you will tend to feel more comfortable with a linear, direct communication style. Translation: you like to go straight to the point.

2. The way we organize space. Have you ever visited an outside market in another country and thought what chaos! How can the locals possibly know where things are to be found? Who would say this? Well, most likely this comment would be made by a linear, monochronic person who is used to a certain way of organizing space – where things line up, for instance, or have their specific, and often labeled, place.

3. The way we do our work. Are deadlines and schedules important to you? If they are, you will tend to organize your entire work around them.

4. How we interact with people. In a culture where schedules permeate almost every activity, meetings with people are often cut short, once time has run out. This would be extremely rude and disrespectful in a culture that has a more flexible view of time – a polychronic culture.

Back to coffee …

In a polychronic culture, relationships and people tend to trump schedules and deadlines. As a result, being able to finish a cup of coffee with somebody may very well be more important than making it to a meeting on time.

This is quite different from what happens in a monochronic culture, where coffee on the go is extremely popular. So, as strange as it may sound, the way a culture views time is a deciding factor in whether or not one is able to buy a cup of coffee and walk out on the street with it.

And enjoy it alone.

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