12.03.2006

filipino time

It's a well known fact that most Filipinos arrive fashionably late to any event. You tell a Filipino to come at 4, most likely they'll get there around 5. I'll admit it, I've been plagued by this disease since the day I learned what it meant to try to arrive on time. No matter how hard I try, I’ve been at least 10 minutes late to my destination. But my Filipino time is nothing compared to my family. My aunt and two cousins are the worst when it comes to Filipino time and it is starting to become annoying.
Today we were supposed to meet for lunch at 2 pm for my cousin M’s birthday. 2:30 rolls around and M and her family were no where in sight. My family hasn’t eaten anything because we were told we were going to meet at 1pm but later got extended to 2 instead. We should have known not to go to the restaurant at 2 but we thought it would be different this time. But nope, still the same ol’ Filipino time making its way to prove you can’t train an old dog a new trick. This family is known within the entire family that if they say they will arrive at 4, they will be there at 6. Yes, that bad. At 2:15, my sister called M to ask where they were. She said she was 10 minutes away. What time did she arrive? 3pm.
I joke about the term Filipino time because Filipinos are known to being late. But do we really want to be known as being inconsiderate to not even trying to be on time? I’ve been working on my tardiness, but as long as it’s not as bad as my cousins, I think I’m good. There are rare occasions where I am an hour late, but I’m usually at most 10 minutes late, and that is because of traffic. One day I'll be on time all the time, but for now, guess you can collect your thoughts for 10 minutes until I arrive.