Time-Conscious Americans
Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. This attitude results in a nation of people committed to researching, experimenting and exploring. Time is one of the two elements that Americans save carefully, the other being labor.
"We are slaves to nothing but the clock," it has been said. Time is treated as if it were something almost real. We budget it, save it, waste it, steal it, kill it, cut it, account for it;we also charge for it. It is a precious resource. Many peoplehave a rather acute sence of the shortness of each lifttime. Once the sands have run out of a person's hourglass, they cannot be replaced. We want every minute to count.
A foreigner's first impression of the U.S. is likely to be that everyone is in a rush--often under pressure. City people always appear to be hurrying to get where they are going, restlessly seeking attention in a store, or elbowing others as they try to complete their shopping. Racing through daytime meals is part of the pace of life in this country. Working time is considered precious. others in public eating-places are waiting for you to finish so they, too, can be served and get back to work within the time allowed. You also find drivers will be abrupt and people will push past you, You will miss smiles, brief conversations, and small exchanges with stranger. Don't take it personally. This is because people value time highly, and they resent someone else "wasting" it beyond a certain appropriate point.
Many new arrivals in the state will miss the opening exchanges of a business call, for example, they will miss the ritual interaction that goes with a welcoming cup of tea or coffee that may be a conventin in their own country. They may miss leisurely business chats in a restaurant or coffee house .Normally, Americans do not assess their visitors in such relaxed surroubdings over extebded small talk; much less do they take them out for dinner,or around on the golf course while they devlop a sense of trust. Since we generally assess and probe professionally rather than socially, we start talking business very quickly, Time is , therefore, always ticking in our inner ear.
Consequently, we work hard at the task of saving time. We produce a steady flow of labor-saving devices; we communicate rapidly through faxes, phone calls or emails rather than through personal contact, which through pleasant, take longer--especially given our traffic-filled streets. we, therefore, save most personal visiting for after-work hours or for social weekend gatherings.
To us the impersonality of electronic communication has little or no relation to the significance of the matter at hand. In some countres no major business is conducted without eye contact, requiring face-to-face conversation. In Ameirica, too, a final agreement will normally be signed in person. However, people are meeting increasingly on television screens, conducting " teleconferences " to settle problems not only in this country but also--by satellite-- internationally.
The U.s. is definitely a telephone country. Almost everyone uses the telephone to conduct business, to chats with friends, to make or break social appointments, to say " thank you ", to shop and obtain all kinds of information. Telepones save the feet and endless amounts of time. This is due partly to the fact that the telephone service is superb here, whereas the postal service is less efficient.
Some new arrivals will come from cultures where itis considered impolite to work too quickly. Unless a certain amount of time is allowed to elapse, it seems in their eyes as if the task being considered were insignificant, not worthy of proper respect. assignments are, consequently, felt to be given added weight bythe passage of time. In the U.S., however, it is taken as a sign of skillfulness or being competent to solve a problem, or fulfill a job successfully, with speed. Usually, the more important a task is, the more capital, energy, and attention will be poured into it in order to " get it moving". |