Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Positive

My 30-second rant: PUNCTUALITY

I have the greatest Mom in the world. But to put it mildly she's not the most punctual person. I suppose that growing up with that has turned me into the exact opposite-- having an overly-sensitive concept of time. Living in Spain has tested me in this area on more than one occasion. Last night was a prime example.

I ended up leaving work last night well after 8:30PM for no good reason other than the fact that my boss was chatting it up with a co-worker about a couple operations they're doing now. Apparently there's an unwritten rule that as long as the boss is here we all have to leave the office together, even if that means twiddling your thumbs until he's done rambling. When 8:38 rolled around and we were finally walking out the door I swear you could have seen the smoke billowing from off the top of my head. I couldn't even look my boss in the face to say goodnight to him, and I barely eeked out an "adios" to Christina before bolting down the sidewalk to head home.

If this were a one-time occurrence, you wouldn't hear a peep out of me. If it happened once or twice a week with a prior announcement, no problemo. Better yet, if I actually had a reason to stay later than usual, to catch up on work or whatever, I certainly wouldn't be dedicating this much time to write about it. It just irritates me to no end feeling like other people are wasting my time. That isn't just a work thing. It's a Spain thing. People here love love love love love love love love love love love to TALK. Talk about nothing. And that talk about nothing can last an hour or more if no one steps in. Granted, I got home last night just a half-hour later than what I normally would have had I left the office on time. Other than working out I didn't have any big plans made that I missed out on. But that was my half-hour during which I could have done productive things or just sat on my couch watching TV had I so desired.
I guess I can just chalk this whole issue up to my American "you're-infringing-on-my-time" mentality. And since I'm the one who decided to move to here it's up to me to adapt, and I'm fine with that. It's just taking a bit longer than I anticipated :P

That was definitely more than 30 seconds!

I have to add that last night, in all my furor, I finally broke through my exercise barrier. I actually wanted to exercise in order to let off some steam, so I grabbed my Turbo Jam CD and turned on. I actually surprised myself with the initial energy I had. I was nailing my punches and my kicks were higher than they've been in a long time, hehe.. Surely I was a sight to see! Unfortunately after blasting through the first few sets I burned out after 25 minutes, drenched in sweat.

I will be back for more today!

5 comments:

Alli said...

Girl that would make me mad too. I bet its hard to get used to cultural diferences like that.
Good for you for relieve your stress through exercise!

Anonymous said...

oh the great cultural differences, arent they so much fun? NOT. I have things like that happen a lot here in Oz. I'm living in hope that some day i don't notice them as much, fingers crossed.

Alli said...

Thank you for your pep talk. I feel like I have known you for a long time too! Its weird how some people just click in your lives you know? I think alot of my problem today is I am PMSing too. I have cried like 3 times at my desk already today. Its just that time. I know it will pass. Thanks for the words of encouragment they did not fall on deaf ears!

Marissa said...

That would drive me nuts!! But way to go to you for using your frustration to exercise!!

Anonymous said...

The big difference for me is that in Ireland when we have to deliver not so nice news or tell someone off for something or just point out they were wrong, we do it in the nicest possible way so as not to hurt anyones feelings, lower self esteem etc. In Aus you can forget that, it feels like their sole aim is to make you feel as inferior as possible and they say everything very harshly and generally in a very loud way. They say i'm too sensitive, i say they are down right rude and on it goes...