Our boy, Dave Martins, songwriter extraordinaire, and leader of the famous Tradewinds band, has penned many songs which have provided insights to our unique approach to life in the West Indies. One such witty composition is, “It’s traditional,” which first appeared on the ‘Top Side’ of the band’s 1975 album, ‘Sexy Lady.’
“Every country has traditions down through
history,
And we are no different in the West Indies,
We may be small as nations go,
That may well be true,
But still you must remember we have tradi
tions too
For instance, you can’t get a West Indian to
reach any place on time,
It’s traditional, It’s traditional,” …
Almost fifty years after this Tradewinds’ classic arrived on the scene, punctuality still seems to be our society’s equivalent of Sisyphus’ mystic punishment. In Greek mythology, Sisyphus, then King of Ephyra, was punished for his craftiness and deceitfulness by being forced to roll an enormous boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down into the abyss, every time he got near the top.
Why is it that the lack of punctuality is so ingrained in our society? Why can’t we make a concerted effort to become more time conscious? It is not rocket science and we all remember some master time wasters, coasters and limers from high school, who have since migrated north, and instantaneously adapted to the military-like time standards demanded of those societies with the same relative ease as the North American long range migratory birds making their way south to the tropics every winter.
“And we don’t know the meaning of punctu
ality,
We say we coming half past one,
We reach at half past three,
We love to buy expensive watch to tell the
time and date,
We spend 500 dollars to know how late,
We coming late…”
One can accept that on the odd occasion there is a genuine reason beyond our control for being late. Vehicle breakdowns and blackouts, to mention a few, are some of the standard excuses proffered by the customary late arrivals. Why so often? It seems arriving fashionably late is the standard practice preferred by our society, and all we can do in the present time is just shrug our shoulders and accept this sad state of affairs.
This rather impolite routine has permeated all strata of our society to such an extent, that late starts at public events and functions are the norm, where, more often than not, the public address system is still being checked at the appointed start time. One can only wonder in awe about weddings (a pass will be given here), which actually occur on the scheduled day, when one considers all the traditional late arriving of the parties involved. Local media reporters attending government press conferences have spent countless hours waiting for the hosting minister or senior government official to saunter in on his/her own time, with obviously no regard for anyone else’s time. This distasteful practice also extends to members of the private sector who, likewise, fail to honour time commitments set by themselves, for interviews with the press.
In all fairness, one Caribbean industry which has come a long way, in terms of punctuality, is the airline industry. BWIA – But Will It Arrive? – ( now Caribbean Airlines) and LIAT (which, unfortunately, has become a victim of Covid-19) – Leaving Island Any Time – had made massive strides in recent years, with regard to their departure and arrival times, with the former, more often than not, departing early, once all the passengers had checked-in. How did these companies, with prior notorious reputations for hopeless time keeping, manage to make the turn around? What can we learn from Caribbean Airlines about improving our punctuality?
“If you pay a West Indian from twelve o’clock,
He coming to work for one,
It’s Traditional, It’s Traditional,
Boy the traffic, the traffic…”
The arrival of the oil and gas industry, which is well known for its clockwork precision, is the final wake-up call for us. If we can’t confirm to the high standard that this sector demands, others who can do so will be sought. It is not that we can’t perform at this level; the precision with which the schedules of visiting dignitaries are executed is testimony to that fact. So, why not on a consistently regular basis?
How do we, as a society, confront a problem of this nature? For starters, the gold standard for excellent punctuality must be set and maintained by the heads of all organizations – both public and private. The practice of perfect punctuality must become part and parcel of our culture, and the ingrained lackadaisical approach of arriving at any ‘old’ time must be eradicated. While the cycle of poor punctuality is extremely difficult to break, we, as a society, have no choice in this matter, and must begin working on it immediately.
