"On Time" in Brazil?

Punctuality? Is there such a thing as punctuality in Latin America? The common myth is that people in Latin America have little sense of punctuality, that things rarely start “on time.” But are they really that different than the United States? I mean, how many events in the United States actually “start on time.”

Well, after my year here, I have come to see that the myth is pretty much true. While I tend to be anything but punctual in the U.S., often procrastinating and running from activity to activity in my over-booked schedule, I find that I am at least within ten to fifteen minutes of the start time… and NEVER late for work.

Here, I tend to stick to the same habits. I’m often running late for classes or activities, finishing assignments and projects right before the deadline, and rushing to and from place to place. However, it seems that when I arrive, I am still considered “right on time,” at least according to Brazilian standards. In the United States, whatever event or activity would have already started, here the people are gathering right along with me to begin… and sometimes aren’t even close to beginning and consider me to be "early"!

Here in Sao Paulo, there is a much stronger sense of being "on time". The corporate life forces people to at least attempt to arrive near the start of an appointment, I think mainly because many Brazilian companies work with the United States and Europe and have realized that many non-Latin Americans are irritated by non-punctuality.

However, around Brazil, this little sense of time is very common. In Bahia, where I first stayed, my two-hour courses would start 45 minutes late and my break would be 15 minutes instead of 5. People often meandered in the streets with little preoccupation about arriving somewhere “on the hour.” Life just came and went, it was more about what was accomplished rather than when it was accomplished.

And here in Sao Paulo, I still see this value strongly in the university life. At my school, classes rarely start on time, often beginning a half an hour late. Students come and go as they please throughout the class, going to the bathroom, chatting with friends outside for a break, or making photocopies at the nearby copy shops. It is acceptable to arrive late and leave early. Deadlines for written work aren’t so much “deadlines” as “guidelines,” meaning that something that should have been turned in a month ago is still accepted without penalty, something never seen in the U.S. universities.

However, this lack of strictness about time doesn’t mean that life is easier or that the people don’t work just as hard. It means things are done in a very different way. In the U.S., I have strict deadlines to follow. If I don’t follow them, I know I have consequences. Here, I have to have a lot more accountability and responsibility. If I arrive late to class and leave early, there is certainly no punishment, but I may not have the information for the test or paper I will have to write later. If I keep putting off an essay that was due a month ago, I may never turn it in and there is no one to remind me to turn in the work, I just fail the class.

What I’ve learned is that this lack of punctuality initially seems to be taking the “easy road.” However, it actually requires a very different set of skills to complete the work. I am required to develop responsibility to do the things on my own because no one is sitting next to me with a deadline. If I don’t come on time or complete the work, it's socially acceptable… but I may see the negative results way down the road.

So, as far as I can tell, the myth is normally true that punctuality is often not as valued in Brazil as it is in the United States. However, it does not equal laziness. It, instead, requires Brazilians to lead a different lifestyle with a different set of skills required to succeed in this environment.