Be on time, no laughter when you’re not!

It has been noted that time is the most important commodity. Time never comes back, and even it never rewinds like a tape recorder. Australian people fully respect time, and they waste no time in doing something, which means they take the opportunity to start and end activities on time. The phrase ‘on time’ has become their cultural perspective in many fields, including education. 

When I did my overseas study in Australia, I experienced a particular situation as to ‘on time’ matter. On my first day at the lecture, I had difficulty finding the room, and therefore I was to be five minutes late, which frequently may not matter in Indonesia. Hence the lecturer appeared unhappy with my late coming. With a little laughter I said, “Excuse me, sorry for coming late”. Then he said, “That’s fine for now, sir, but please don’t do that again here in Australia, and remember, no laughter when you’re doing something wrong”. This was greeted with gales of laughter from the audience, embarrassing me that I had no idea of what was going to do then.