Barbara Geier: “I will always fly the flag for punctuality”

TEXT & PHOTOS: BARBARA GEIER

I recently met an ex-colleague of mine, who was on a work trip in London from Germany. We met the German way, meaning, I arrived at our agreed meeting spot ten minutes early – where she was already waiting.

We both joked about being early and how British society always acknowledges that to be a sign of our Germanness. And discovered that we both react in the same manner; by saying “No, that’s just me and my personal paranoia of being late, it has nothing to do with being German.” In hindsight, I’m thinking that our identical paranoia, and both of us describing it as such, might in fact be an argument for punctuality being a German character trait – just like not wanting to acknowledge that it’s typical German and insisting that it’s our own personal thing.

In any case, punctuality is one of the clichés about Germans that I absolutely fulfil. And I will always fly the flag for punctuality, no matter how unfashionable it might be. For me, it’s a question of manners, politeness, and consideration for others. The latter, in particular, matters. Because without mutual consideration societies cannot function. If you can rely on people to show up at a certain place at a certain time, for example, it ensures that everyone involved can actually get on with their lives and not just spend – or rather lose – time waiting for someone who happens to have forgotten or thinks that being 30 minutes late is still ok. No, it’s not, because I could have done something else with those 30 minutes and I might not have had to stop what I was doing in order to leave on time, to be on time. If you let other people wait, you are basically saying that your time is worth more than theirs – and in my books, that’s both rude and arrogant.

As I’m usually on time, I’ve had to spend a lot of time waiting for other people (including Germans!) and therefore built up a certain intolerance towards latecomers. Now, obviously, there can always be good reasons for being late, in particular in places like London, and I have learnt to accept that 15 minutes after the agreed time is not necessarily being late in a big city with a multitude of traffic issues.

However, I will never really be ok with the kind of attitude where someone texts you two minutes before the agreed time saying; “Oh, by the way, I didn’t make it out of the house on time, will be 30 minutes late.” Hello? I’m already here! Or if the person you’re supposed to meet saunters along, all relaxed despite being late, without showing any acknowledgement of being late or the concept of time as such. Granted, it doesn’t have to be ten minutes before the agreed time, but if there’s a choice between either that or ten minutes late, I know where I stand…

Barbara Geier is a London-based freelance writer, translator and communications consultant. She is also the face behind www.germanyiswunderbar.com, a German travel and tourism guide and blog that was set up together with UK travel writer Andrew Eames in 2010.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Discover Germany, Switzerland & Austria.

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