Canada: Appointment Alert!
From ExecutivePlanet.com
Canada: Appointment Alert
A Word About Canadians first:
The words agreeable, polite, quiet, reserved, and passive-aggressive have all been used to describe Canadians at various times. Our American cousins tend to think of Canadians as “sheep”, while the former tend to think of Americans as brash, aggressive, and showy. Americans, it would be fair to say, don’t “get” Canadians. We’re the kid in school who never got the best grades, but who still had a smug sense of self-importance about his own intelligence and moral superiority.
What does all this have to do with punctuality?
- Since Canadians largely share the above traits, they’re generally a punctual lot. They are also world renowned for their politeness. Because conflict is a dirty word in Canada, Canadians probably wouldn’t raise the subject of your tardiness if you are late, but they would remember it. Kudos to you if you’re on time, though. - Office hours in the private sector can run from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Flex hours are gaining in popularity as traffic delays in and out of the major urban centres are fast becoming a major issue for companies.
In the public sector, unlike the private, government workers take a hardy lunch, which means that if you need to reach a particular person between the hours of 12:00 and 2:00 p.m., you can all but forget it.
