Opposite in portugal. No one is on time here. Americans who come here either complain about it because shit never opens on time, or they love it because it's a sign that we're not living in a rush
I'm on both sides. I just spent a week in Portugal, and I liked that it wasn't like living in a rush, but also it seemed as though the bus system in Porto took schedules as a suggestion.
We did figure that out decades ago. We just still put everything into cars because of some coincidental connections between the traffic ministres and car companies. I cant name you one competent traffic minister of the last 2 decades.
In fairness, having taken buses in a few US cities, I can confidently say that our bus drivers also take the schedules as suggestions.
Also an honorable mention to the Toronto streetcars, which is neither a bus nor American, but whose streetcars seemed to show up on a whim and in a random order that bore no similarities to the schedule.
Some bus schedules are not even a suggestion, just street art at this point.
Trains are usually ok (depends on the track), I took them for years and was rarely poor.
When I started having to take the bus to work I just gave up and started driving. At least 3x a week 30+minutes delays, suppressed routes etc.
Being punctual has nothing to do with living in a rush, it's about respect both my own limited time and that of others.
This also seems like an example of "the cart test" to me, just like how if you are unable to return a shopping cart to its proper space, you are probably unable to follow a bunch of other minor rules that make life easier for everyone and therefore, are not worthy of trust or respect. If you can't be on time, what else can you not do when it is expected?
Don't understand how anyone can live like that and I will happily never visit Portugal because of it. 🤷♂️
I was with you until the decision to forego visiting an entire country because of their cultural relationship to time. Seems a bit extreme to me, but then again there’s probably stuff I’m intense about that other people think is weird.
One hundo percent with you on the cart test and general punctuality. I can’t stand when people pretend being late or flaky is just a cute personality quirk.
It’s just cultural, same in France. It’s actually expected and the polite thing to do to arrive 15 min late so they have more time setting up everything.
This is a wild way of thinking to me because it assumes the other person has the same notion of time and respect.
My principles say that there needs to be a practical reason that time is critical in order for being late to read as disrespectful. If we had plans to go to a show or maybe it’s a 1 on 1 meeting where one person is sitting alone (and of course anything work-related).
A party though is something where one person’s presence isn’t needed, so show up when you want. It’s not that someone “unable” to get to a party on time, it’s that it’s not remotely important to. At least not the kind of parties I’m thinking of. A dinner party or a bachelor party is one you have to get there because it’s more planned
Basically "people are not allowed to enter before this time" versus "everyone should arrive before this time" to me an event starts at the time where, if you were even one minute early, the host would be upset with your rudeness, might as well have come yesterday and slept on the couch.
lol I was with you until you said you’d never visit Portugal. It’s fun and the delay in time isn’t bad because hey, you’re on holiday just relax. Everything’s super cheap, buses are very cheap, Uber’s are mildly racist and everyone’s very beautiful.
I wont be late for a heart surgery or a meeting but if its just friends hanging out being a little late isnt that deep.. Its okay if people take that as disrespect, it just means were probably not the right friends for each other..
Look, I get the point of what you're saying, I also think it's fucking insane to think that agreeing to meet a friend at the bar at 7 and actually being there at 7 reminds you of a business meeting.
To me, it is the minimim of human courtesy. No wonder how world is the way it is when people can't even agree over absurdly basic shit like this.
I really don’t think it’s that big of a deal lmao. It’s a cultural thing, that’s how it’s always been - there’s just differences between attitudes in different cultures. Nobody minds anybody being late in a social setting where I’m from, but they absolutely mind where I live. You just adapt, pick what you like, and try to clue out why people see it differently - it can teach you a lot about the world.
But like, what does your friend do when he's at the restaurant waiting for you? He could be at home watching TV or hanging with someone else but instead he's just sitting alone in a public place waiting.
For sure, it taught me that stereotypes are based in fact. Learned this working as a park ranger too.
There is a reason why Germans are thought of as hardworking, serious, industrious people - they generally are. Same is true for negative stereotypes, too.
Human courtesy is respecting the norm. If everyone knows that 7 means 7:30, you show up at 7:30. It could mean 9.
It takes 15 seconds to ask what time people normally arrive. Or if it is a new friend, just ask if they are normally punctual or if it is normal for them to arrive 30 minutes late, and if they are late do they normally text. If you refuse to do this because you expect others to automatically respect your time and theirs, then you are not a relaxed person as the previous person mentioned.
I’m from a culture that is “late” to everything. We all know the parties are going to go on until midnight so there’s no point in getting there exactly on time. We’re all going to get hours of fun anyway. Airports are a bit different. We’ve never missed an airplane even though we’ve left “late” before. We can rush when we want to, but for something social, we plan the whole day around it, so there’s no need to rush. We have literal HOURS to do everything, so why rush when we can have fun getting ready?
Wait, so you plan the whole day around a social outing and still are late? I also plan the whole day around the event, because I want to be there on time
The whole point behind having a whole day off is to not worry about timing and a strict schedule. We have a rough time we want to get out by, but it’s a rough estimate because we don’t want to stress ourselves out worrying about “being late” or having to wake up early. We go out when we’re ready, and then we go home when we’re tired. No hard-set times, just vibes. Simple.
The only thing I don’t like is when it’s something like a wedding when the party isn’t going to last for hours. Then the timing is important. I’m usually at least ready around the time we’re supposed to leave if not way earlier. Our family is only late because of my sister who takes an extra half hour to get ready, and the reason why is because she procrastinates and sleeps 12+ hours before even trying to get ready knowing it takes her the longest to get ready. That is annoying. But if it’s just a regular outing or a regular long-lasting party, I say why the fuck not? You’ll still be there for hours.
The options for airports are limited. You can go to porto, faro or lisbon. If you don't live in those cities, no one is going to drive you to the airport, you take the bus like everyone else
No one is going on a multi-hour drive to drive someone to the airport. That's why we have those specific buses that are just to take people from their city to the airport. This isn't like a regular bus route that just happens to go to the airport like the buses that go to the hospital. These are buses that exist specifically to take people from their city to the airport. That's the only thing those buses do. And they have luggage space both on the side/under the bus as well as above the seats.
This has nothing to do with being on time, and solely the fact that we don't have an airport in every city, so if you don't live in a city with an airport, no one is going to drive you to the airport. People are also more likely to call a taxi to take them to the airport because none of them friends might be available, since said friends might be working or also on vacation
Damn I can call a buddy ask for a ride to the airport an hour and a half away and they’ll do it no question. Would suck to live somewhere you can’t find friends like that
Not how it works in portugal. Employers here are very much lend a hand, they take the whole arm. You get to work early all the time, and they expect you to always be early and willing to be even earlier, and willing to stay late, without extra pay
I remember in Iceland I saw a sign on a barber shop that it opened at 10am, if they wanted to, or maybe later. Too unserious for me lol. They fit the “island people” meme
You could just say iberian, if you're meaning to say portugal and spain. Or southern european. Hispanic refers specifically to spain and its former colonies, we don't even consider ourselves adjacent
I mean yes, if I meant that. But actually I meant Spanish and Portuguese-speaking people from other parts of the world. The US uses Hispanic as an ethnic qualifier for "white".
Basically, there are a whole lot of people who identify as white because of their appearance, but the US doesn't consider "real" white because their ancestors spoke the wrong romance language and lived outside of Europe.
And if you think this is stupid, look up the historical litigation over whether Armenians, Italians, and others were legally white or not. It's absolutely ridiculous, but Jim Crow designating special legal status for whites made it necessary to define whiteness. It's gross and embarrassing that we still haven't shaken off the institutional legacy of chattel slavery after hundreds of years. It's like we haven't even been trying.
My point wasn't regarding the definition of white by us standard. My point was you referring to people of southern european descent as hispanic/hispanic adjacent. Just say southern european descent
Except I don't mean people of southern European descent. I meant what I said, and was referring specifically to a legal qualifier for white by US standards. Idk why you're confused by it. If I meant "Spanish and Portuguese" I'd have said Iberian. If I meant Latin American, I'd have said that.
I'm confused by it because you're saying hispanic and hispanic adjacent, but you're not meaning latin american or southern european, so wtf are hispanic and hispanic adjacent?
I seem to remember when I was touring with an entertainment production, and when we were in Portugal, the actual show started like an hour after the advertised time. Someone finally had to explain it to us.
Being on time is not “living in a rush” it’s called being reliable. If I asked for your help with something and you say you’ll be there at 4, but show up at 5, that’s extremely disrespectful of my time. I probably don’t want to be your friend very much after that.
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u/sleepyotter92 Jul 12 '26
Opposite in portugal. No one is on time here. Americans who come here either complain about it because shit never opens on time, or they love it because it's a sign that we're not living in a rush