So, let's get down to it. In the American custom, we have a saying: "To be early is to be on time. To be on time is late and to be late is unacceptable." Basically, when we say this, we make implications that being late require punishment, or that the tardy person is inefficient in timekeeping.
Now, as people, we are erroneous. Sometimes, we are late. For many people, this is normal, and is considered okay, as long as there is a good excuse.
I myself, have had some of these moments. Some of my reasons were due to bad traffic, illness, a random obstacle that was unforeseen, lack of communication between scheduler and schedulee... and some of them were due to basic human error: I fell asleep for too long, I just took too long in getting ready, I contemplated whether I really wanted to go somewhere or not, and other silly dinks of human behavior.
Then there are those people who are habitually late, they have no concept of time or no respect for it and the people it involves, or maybe they just don't care enough to try. These people typically don't succeed in being financially well-off because they normally don't give enough effort to make "having a lot of money" possible for themselves.
Now, when it comes down to deadlines, though, there is no leniency, hence the name: deadline. After that set date, there is no excuse that can push for more time, especially for projects given well in advance. We also are familiar with deadlines for school applications, job projects, school projects, applications for projects and papers, and thesis papers for graduate school, and, and, and....
In the Thai culture, there is a sense of relaxation, if you are late, you will be late, but you also will still get your work done, and leave when you finish. I think this can be a great concept in going places, because there isn't as much stress that is involved, it isn't the "life-or-death" kind of situation. But There is one downside, I noticed. This specifically applies for my work. As part of my duties, I need to evaluate the level of English proficiency of the students I am working with so that I can place them into the appropriate class, where they will not be learning at too advanced a level. If they do not test, it makes it difficult for me to appropriately level them and therefore teach them. Now, I tested about 100 people in the span of five days, from February 5th to February 11th. That number may not seem like a lot, but when the time of the evaluation ranges from five minutes to 30 per person, that's a lot of time dedicated to listening. Not to mention that I made audio recordings of each tester. I started at 70 hours of free time for audio recordings, and after I finished my sessions, I had 48 hours. As part of the evaluation, I also had to listen to these recording again in order to listen to grammar and pronunciation of each tester. There wasn't a major issue until this week, after I had already placed students into levels after a grueling 20 hours of audio-listening, and my schedule for classes had been built after three days of discussion and grouping. This week, people wanted to test to get into a class. The problem is that I have 100 students, and I only have 9 classes, about 10-12 people per class. As maximum capacity, I can only fit 2 people into my room. I just don't have room for more people to test.
In addition to that, I had been informed that 5 people had not been leveled. Now, I was worried, because that means that I made an error of 5%. In reality, though, I checked the names of the people. One person on this list of 5 names had tested, and was already placed in a level, and her name was in the list. Now I'm down to four. One name, I was very familiar with because I am friends with the woman and I know her face; she did not test at all. I couldn't level her, but because we regularly talked, I put her in a level I felt would be most appropriate. Two down, now three more. One name, I saw, looked very familiar, so I checked my records, and I saw her name, but she wasn't recorded... so I went through all my evaluations and I found her test, which had two of the same name from the same department. I made an error! But I knew her level, and fixed that mistake. Three down, two to go. Now, the last two names here, were in a department in which there were only three people who tested. I knew this because my original roster didn't have their names, and anybody whose department wasn't in the original roster had to fill in their information. Therefore, only three people from this department came in. The two other names, if they came in, would have had to write in their information, so they did not test. Because I was not familiar with their department, I also was not familiar with their names, and therefore couldn't place them in any level. I informed my lovely (no sarcasm intended) HR Head, and we just placed them in the lower-leveled class. All five people taken care of. The funny thing is that three of these people didn't test, so how can the expect to be leveled if they don't try? One person had difficulty finding her name, which happens when there are a lot of names. And then one person was my error. So, out of 100 people, I had a 1% error due to a slight mix-up. Honestly, I don't think that is a problem, considering how easy of a fix it was. (Heads up, keep track of EVERYTHING you do! Trust me)Now, after that lovely bulk of information, let's talk about one of the reasons I mentioned for being late: lack of communication, of everything. Lack of communication can ruin many relationships: familial, romantic, and business (academic, too!) The reason: because nobody knows what is going on. That is something I really have a problem with, not knowing, and it almost ruined a potential business opportunity for me. The example: there was a potential client, and I gave her my terms of the agreement, via my aunt. Now, after my aunt gave in the terms, she told me that she would let me know what the client said. And the terms weren't anythings serious, basically they said my expected schedule, how much I charge, cancellation for either side, and so forth. Now, this was two weeks before the intended start date that the terms were given to the client. After one week, I didn't hear anything, so I waited. By Friday evening of the second week, I still didn't hear anything, and I was worried, because in the American culture, we have an inclination for confirmations of agreement or appointments, at least a couple days before. This appointment was supposed to be for Saturday morning, but I had no knowledge of whether the client did or didn't want to continue the business agreement. I don't like the idea of preparing a course for a client who does not wish to continue in the agreement, because my time dedicated is then wasted. Also, I should mention that my aunt left with my uncle and cousin on Thursday of the second week for a three day vacation. It is no problem for me, but because I am not the normal recipient of company, I don't want to answer the door, for my own safety. Here's the kicker, at 9:30, the doorbell is buzzing. Why? I'm not sure, I am not expecting company. And the best part of it, this was the client. I called my aunt, wondering what was going on, and she said "This is your appointment! Oh. MY.GOD..... You should've known that it was on because she didn't say no."
Does anybody think that last part sounded a tad bit weird? Think about it... When is something okay because someone neglected to say no? Think...... thiiiiiiink..... Okay, you probably already have the idea by now.
Lesson I learned from last week? Always confirm at least a day ahead. The good news is that I do have the client and a second job, and I will always need to confirm with them the day ahead, if not earlier.
Until next time,
K.
P.S.- there will be some crazy action happening soon! Like moving, wahoo!
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