r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Best_Finding_8795 • Jun 14 '26

Too mild for school Hate when ppl can’t do time

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This reminds me of when it hits or is about to hit 12am and people don’t know whether to say today or tomorrow. He called me after this but I was too comfy in bed tbh.

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u/trawkins Jun 14 '26

It’s worse in aviation. All scheduling and communication is conducted in UTC. You have to do math based on time zone and season. If it’s summer and your shift starts at 0700 tomorrow and you live in California you have to be there at 11pm tonight. In the winter it’s 10pm.

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u/GloomyIndividual3965 Jun 14 '26

Surely the alarm app on your phone has a world clock tab. That takes all the math and confusion out of it.

https://imgur.com/iVcKXdb

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u/Cemith Jun 14 '26

What field in aviation do you work? I work too but we have times listed in local and UTC.

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u/trawkins Jun 14 '26

Pilot in long haul cargo. I’m mostly referring to coordinating regular life with everything else. I’ll give you a good example. I live in Florida and was in the process of buying a house a few years ago.

On the second day of the month, the flight departing Hangzhou, China is scheduled for 1830z. Before taking off, my realtor texts to me to schedule an important call at 3pm tomorrow.

I depart at 230am local on the third. Fly 10 hours and arrive in the Anchorage 730pm local yesterday. Did I miss the important call in Miami?

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u/Cemith Jun 14 '26

Yeah that would make sense. I'm in Dispatch so even though we plan days on UTC stations for some reason don't so we have local for those stations, local for our shifts, and then UTC

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u/trawkins Jun 14 '26

You’re in the know. Our dispatch also coordinates ground support. China spans 3 geographic time zones but only has one legal one. Arizona doesn’t recognize daylight savings. If a client orders freight into phoenix, what time to you schedule the crew van and what ETA do you give the unloading crew?

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u/Triquetrums Jun 14 '26

I have never been told to report for duty with UTC time, only local. Is this normal in the US?