I felt horrible. Clare and I had been playing phone tag, and wanted to have an actual conversation to tie up multiple lose ends on a project. But with her schedule and mine we just seemed to keep missing each other. Finally we had an email exchange where it looked like we were both fairly free the following day. I wrote I would reach out in the morning; she said that worked out for her, as she was pretty quiet herself.
The next day, after some coffee, cleaning out all the overnight junk mail and getting settled, I dialed her number. Like many of us, Clare has multiple ways to reach her. For sure I could use her US based cell phone. But Clare is a Brit, and so has a UK based mobile as well. And there's also WhatsApp, which in addition to its texting abilities permits voice calls, and works on any platform. I knew that she had been in the States, but she had said was returning. As I was in Berlin on vacation, I was an hour ahead of London. And since I knew she was an early riser, I figured my 930AM was her 830AM, and it would be perfect before either of us got too tied up.
I found her contact info and tried her WhatsApp number, figuring she would use whatever device was closest. No answer: perhaps she was otherwise engaged. I waited 15 minutes, then tried again. Same result. Just as I was preparing to send her an email suggesting she name a better time, a message popped up. Not "I'm on a call" or "Stuck in Zoomland," but rather "Sleeping. Call you later." When she said "returning" I assumed she meant to England. But she had been in San Francisco, and was going back to New York. I had rung her twice at 330AM.
If all your interactions are with folks in your own hood, then your morning, noon and nights are the same. Allowing for wiggle room, early means early and late means late. You know when they are going to be uncaffeinated, when they are likely having dinner and when they are putting on their PJ's. And truth be told, with so much interaction happening asynchronously over various written platforms, the time becomes unimportant. You can send a message when it suits you and they can respond when it suits them.
But sometimes you just gotta be together. Whether is a brainstorming session or a real time review or (as is often in my case) a video or audio recording, there are times when you and your mates just have to occupy the same space time continuum. And that can be a challenge as companies adapt to the new reality of where employees base their desks. In this instance Clare and I were just 2 pieces of the puzzle. We had to find a time to convene a panel of experts to be taped online. I was in Berlin, the producer, studio and one panelist were in London, another was in Austin, another in Dallas, one in California and one in New Paltz, NY. We spanned 9 time zones. Were we to bring drinks to the session, a nightcap, beer, iced tea and morning coffee would all have been correct, not to mention Red Bull.
And we had it easy. If you're trying to coordinate with folks in Asia, the time difference can be almost half a day or more to most of the US. And those are in whole numbers. There are places on the globe, like India, Nepal and parts of Australia where the offset is 15 or 30 minutes plus several hours. So depending on the time of year your 200PM meeting in Pensacola will be at 900PM in Paris, 1200PM in Pacific Grove, 500AM in Parramatta, 1230AM in Pune and 1245AM in Pokhara. It recalls "The 11 O'Clock Report," an early George Carlin bit: "It's 8 o'clock in Los Angles. It's 9 o'clock in Denver. It's 10 o'clock in Chicago. In Baltimore it's 6:42."
So sorry again, Clare, for waking you up. I promise next time to pay more attention to where you are before I ring you so as not to interrupt your dreams. But to be safe, perhaps you should consider leaving your phone in another room.
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford is still getting over jetlag from his last trip. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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