Punctuality Is Having a Moment

The start time for the party to celebrate Tina Brown's new book, " The Palace Papers", was 6:30 p.m., and that's when the media crowd began streaming into Michael's. There was a lot of people in the place by 6:30.

I stood on the other side of West 55th Street and watched as the moment unfolded. I had been trained to show up at least 15 minutes after the time on the invitation had elapsed. I went to work at 6:30.

Ms. Brown didn't mind the early turnout. She told me that everyone craves company. We want to get to the party before another outbreak of Covid shuts it down.

Since Mayor Eric Adams took office, there has been an emphasis on punctuality.

Frank Carone is the mayor's chief of staff. You are on time if you are 5 minutes early. You're late if you're on time.

Mr. Carone referred to the famous coach of the 1960s-era Green Bay Packers.

A reporter for The City, a nonprofit news outlet covering New York, said she was happy with the change since the departure of the previous mayor. Mr. Honan said he appreciated Mayor Adams being on time.

She said there was a noticeable difference between the two mayors.

It is no longer fashionable to be late in the game in 2022.

When videoconferencing became the norm for many office workers, people who had previously struggled with being on time were no longer held up. Collaboration among those in different time zones has become seamless, and people are able to weave school pick-ups and other child care duties into their workday.

"Punctuality is important as we are going through a re-evaluation of our relationship to time," said Linda Ong, the chief executive officer of Cultique, a consulting firm in Los Angeles. There has been less tolerance for lateness because people expect you to be on time.

As more and more office employees return to the workplace, their ability to manage their own time is not something they want to give up.

People were able to function for a long time on their own. When you return to the office, you have to deal with the commute, the inability to tend to your personal and family life, and the fact that you can't engage with people.

Managers will have to make efficiency a priority if some people don't return to work.

People are asking why they're going back to work. She said that if she could work efficiently from home, it would be worth the money spent on gas or trains. She said that this could translate into a culture of getting things done.

The idea that remote work has left employees less in the mood to put up with the distraction and inefficiencies of office life is supported by an officer in the US Navy who runs a fitness and life-coaching business on the side. She said that people want to get things done quicker so they can do what they want to do.

In the last few years the comedian has become a kind of spokesman for the virtues of being on time. He asked the audience to clap if they were a late person. He said, "What late people don't know is that we hate you." The line is being delivered as latecomers find their seats. He said hello to the show.

He did that before the Pandemic. He told an interviewer that sticking to a schedule has become more important. He is like many other comedians who turned to podcasting and other side jobs when live shows disappeared from their schedule.

He said that he was trying to cram in two years of work because he couldn't do it all.

The business of restaurants has been affected by a change in peoples relationship with the clock. There has been a surge in online reservation activity since the Pandemic. People are planning ahead and scheduling their meals now that there are more walk-ins.

The owners of Dear John's, a Los Angeles steak house once owned by Frank Sinatra, say diners are booking earlier. She said that people who used to eat at 7:30 or 8 pm now eat at 6 or 6:30. They aren't running home after work to change their clothes and they're ready to leave at 5.

The running of a restaurant has been complicated by an earlier prime time and the popularity of outdoor dining.

She said that with the time frame shortened, you have to be more vigilant about managing on-time reservations, so you can try to get that second turn before it gets too cold.

Ms. Rckenwagner and her partners will be opening a restaurant called Dear Jane's in Marina del Rey. She said the time was rosé hour.

When scientists are trying to get a more precise accounting of time, there is a new emphasis on punctuality. Physicists and metrologists at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures have redefined the measurement of the unit of time known as the second.

An adherence to punctuality has been on an upward slope for millenniums, according to Chad Orzel, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Union College.

He said that people who tried to measure time in ancient Egypt turned water vessels into clocks.

Professor Orzel said that with the rise of cities, people become more and more strict about time. pocket watches get good enough and cheap enough, about $1 for a good watch, that most people owned one, and they could just go to the train station once a week to reset their watches to get them back on time.

Professor Orzel said that he was conditioned by a high school basketball coach to show up early. Professor Orzel said that he sometimes finds himself sitting in the parking lot playing Pokemon on the phone with his children so that they are not embarrassed early for something.

Punctuality is having a moment and he knows why. He thinks there is something to the fact that people are coming in, doing their work and leaving as soon as possible.