Today I had my first taste of "Malaysian Time" = meaning, being late.... It is generally a known practice here to be late an hour for Chinese Wedding Dinners.. however, today I realised that it translated itself to even work appointments as well!
When I was in Australia, every minute that I worked was calculated into my paycheck, so every minute counts! I had to wake up by six am every morning to get a call from my agent, and then catch the early public transport to go to work.
If I was late for work, it was ESSENTIAL that I informed the child care centre that I was going to be late due to legal work regulations in the childcare industry. If I was late to meet a friend by more than ten minutes, it was also a general practice to inform by way of a text message that we were going to be late!
So today, our appointment was set for 10.00am in the morning. I strolled in around 9.20ish. My colleague, Sheela, asked me why was I late?" when I entered the office. Then told me we were going to leave SOON.... However, *ding-dong-ding-dong* 15 minutes, 20 minutes later she still was fiddling with something in the office.... we only left with with about less than 15 mins to the time of our work appointment to see a client!
We arrived at the place of our appointment at the very late time of 10.25am... we thought we were late! However,
*SURPRISE * SURPRISE *
the person that we were going to meet was even LATER than us! Instead, we were redirected to another person who was the staff's senior to negotiate with!
It was then I realised that I was still in my "Australian mode of time" which was a bit irrelevent in Malaysia where almost most people are always late and never arrive at the pre-arranged time..... My colleague was complaining coz she had another appointment to go to later in the day as well....
Really, Malaysia Boleh. Everything also can.
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