2008-05-26 11:14:51
Switzerland is famous for its watches and its trains that run on time. But,
asks Imogen Foulkes, can punctuality become too much of a good thing?
In the centre of Bern there is an electronic clock which is ticking off the
days, hours, minutes and seconds until the start of Euro 2008 - a reminder that
Europe's football championships begin on 7 June and Switzerland is the proud
host.
Seeing the clock caused me to reflect on Switzerland and time.
My first job in this country was as a journalist for Swiss Broadcasting's
international service. Not so different from the BBC World Service in fact,
apart from one curious thing.
Every day at exactly nine, 12 and four, the offices were all empty, and the
elevators up to the staff restaurant were all full.
Why? Morning coffee, lunch and afternoon coffee it turned out. Always at the
same time.
Not because the company ordered it but because the Swiss do it that way.
Electronic timekeepers
One of my first assignments was at the city hospital, but I made the mistake of
arranging an interview for 9am.
I wandered through empty corridors, passing wards where patients lay quietly,
not a doctor or nurse in sight.
I finally found my neurologist in, of course, the canteen, coffee at his elbow.
There are new daily timesheets, in which all work activity must be recorded at
15 minute intervals
"But what if you don't want coffee at nine?" I finally asked a colleague. "What
if you fancy a cup at 10? Or what if you're hungry at two?"
I was greeted with a puzzled frown. "Well," came the reply, "I'd be on my own,
because everyone goes at nine. I'd have no-one to talk to."
But despite the national enthusiasm for punctuality, Swiss companies are now
trying to formalise the timekeeping of their employees and there is currently a
boom in time management software.
Bureaucratic insanity
I know a woman who works as a translator. It is a quiet office, everyone works
individually and phone calls are rare.
This woman likes to swim for an hour at lunchtime and because - yes, you have
guessed it - everyone takes lunch at the same time, her local pool is full at
midday.
So she took the revolutionary step of going for lunch at 1330.
The school timetables are not just strict, they are Byzantine in their
complexity
The pool was almost empty, it was bliss - until she got back to work and found
an email from her boss saying that under the new system, lunch after two
o'clock was not possible.
I have another friend who works part-time, in theory every morning from eight
until noon. But sometimes it gets very busy and he works on until two.
Or he did until the newly-installed electronic timekeeper began deducting an
hour's wage as soon as it got to one, because of course he could not possibly
be at his desk, he had to be at lunch.
The most bizarre system of all is about to be imposed on my former colleagues
at Swiss Broadcasting: a new daily timesheet, in which all work activity must
be recorded at 15-minute intervals.
Imagine, if you will, racing to get a television report edited in time for the
evening news and having to stop every quarter of an hour to explain what you
are doing.
Management claim it will allow them to compare the cost effectiveness of
programmes. Journalists say it is a bureaucratic insanity.
School timetables
And then there are the schools. Punctuality is prized in the classroom too.
Children who are late can expect punishment.
But the school timetables are not just strict, they are Byzantine in their
complexity. A regular nine-to-four day is unheard of. Instead children come and
go throughout the day.
It will be interesting to see how the Swiss adapt to the different habits of
all these visitors
Here, for example, is a snapshot of my two sons' timetable.
On Monday, one starts school at 0730, the other at 0820.
One comes home at 11, the other at 12, one goes back at two, the other is home
for the afternoon.
It goes on like that all week but not in the same way, of course. Each day is
cleverly different.
The only thing that is sacrosanct is the two-hour lunch break. Forget about
school dinners. Switzerland still operates on the principle that Mum is at
home, so children are always home for lunch.
I have a friend with three children who tried for years to get a job but never
succeeded because - and she worked it out precisely - given the school
timetable, she could never be out of the house for more than an hour and 43
minutes.
Transport system
But there is one glorious, positive side to this obsession with timekeeping:
the trains. They really do run - nearly always - on time.
So the hundreds of thousands of football fans who are about to descend on
Switzerland for Euro 2008 need not worry about missing the kick-off.
An intricate and integrated transport system is already in place, with extra
trams and trains laid on in all the host cities.
What will be interesting, though, is to see how the Swiss adapt to the
different habits of all these visitors.
The Italians are going to Zurich and may well want their cappuccino at 11, not
nine.
The French are coming to Bern. What if they want a five-course lunch at two?
Perhaps it is just as well for punctilious Swiss restaurant managers that the
Spanish team is playing in neighbouring Austria, since their fans tend to enjoy
dinner at 10.
Still, I am sure it will all go smoothly, as long as there is no extra time.