Time zones… If I have a Kryptonite, they’re it.
I have such a hard time converting other people’s time zones into my own, and I have to do it all the time. You’d think it would be easy. Eastern Time, add two hours. Central Time, add an hour. Pacific Time, subtract an hour.
I am constantly setting up times for telephone calls or interviews with people around the country. As I’ve been working with people in the publishing world while working on my book, I’ve also had to talk to a lot of folks in New York City, so I’m getting pretty good at converting Eastern Time. If a conference call is setup for 2pm, I know that I need to be ready for it at noon. If I’m trying to decide if it’s too late to call a business on the East coast, I’ve come to know that 3:30 is pretty much the cut-off time.
But… HOLY SMOKES… you move me one time zone over and I get all messed up! The other day I was emailing back and forth with the representative of a lunchmeat company about a possible partnership. She asked if we could speak on the phone, and I told her sure. She told me 1pm. She was in Chicago. I set an alarm on my phone to go off fifteen minutes before 2 pm, my time. Imagine my surprise when the phone rang two hours before I was expecting it to ring. The thing is, I was SO sure I did it right that time. I thought about it really hard before putting it into my alarm. After I put it in, I thought about it really hard again. And I still got it wrong.
A few days before that I setup a phone call with the online publicist for Universal Pictures. She was stationed over in Los Angeles and wanted to talk to me about attending that Hop press junket. We agreed to talk at 10 am. Just as I did with the lunchmeat company, I thought really hard about it before entering it into my calendar. I crunched the numbers several times in my brain. Pacific Time… that’s plus one. So, I set my alarm to go off fifteen minutes before 9 am. I waited by the phone when the hour rolled over and… nothing. Fifteen minutes later… nothing. I went back and looked through our emails to make sure I got the time right. 10 am. Why wasn’t she calling? Oh, crap. It’s minus one. I still had almost two hours to go. Sure enough, she called me at 11 am my time. Right. on. the. dot.
The worst is when I mix up Pacific Time with Eastern Time. Somehow I do that once in a while, and I end up waking up WAY earlier than I wanted to or ever would have to in order to get ready for whatever it is I have coming. By the time I figure out my screw-up, it’s too late to go back to sleep. Those are the times when my neighbors are most likely to hear me curse like a sailor.
The funny thing is, the time zone I have the least trouble with is England, where my brother lives. Plus seven hours. It’s simple, and it’s never hard to do that math.
Anybody else have this problem, or is it just me? Just yesterday I was on the phone with people in three different time zones. I about wanted to shoot myself by the end of the day because I messed up on all three of them.
Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing
http://everytimezone.com/
I find this the best to use as it's very visual. It can be saved a an app on an iphone/ipad as well which makes it super easy.
You should get some extra clocks to put on your office wall, one for each time zone. That way you can see all the time zones and compare them to yours in one glance :)
Totally agree with this one. My dad used to have a number of dealings with people all over the place (he worked in export for a number of years) and he had a series of about 5 clocks on the wall each labelled with the corresponding places. Made it really simple.
LOL I live in Central....all my family lives in Eastern...plus 1 to call them....minus 1 if they call me...they can never remember...my grandmother will say, its 12:30 here so its 1:30 right?...LOL...all they have to remember is minus 1...I also do like someone mentioned above...when I talk to my family its just easier for me to say..I will call you at 11:00 your time....or....call me Saturday, after 2:00 your time...
I lead a direct sales team of over 165 women... Time zones range from Italy to Hawaii. I have found that it's a common problem for people to convert the times and it's helpful to my team if I talk to them in terms of THEIR time. So I say, "Great, we'll talk at 11 am" (meaning their time PST, not my 2pm EST) and then I adjust to MY calendar appropriately. I'm surprised your associates aren't doing the same!!
I work in insurance and our clients are from every state in the us. I have to open http://www.worldtimezone.com/time-usa12.php
on my computer to know what time it is for them...especially if they are making a payment on the very last minute before their policy expires..(which happens aaaall the time). to make it worse our main office is EST while we work PST in California so all our policy times show EST times but we go off of where that person actually lives. grrr..
When we took our Spring Break road trip, at one point, we were so confused that we called someone and asked what time it was there. We had two cell phones on the same service showing different times!
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I live on an island that has it's own time zone - how's that for confusing? Newfoundland Standard Time = Eastern time + 1.5 hours!
I can relate. No matter how many times I check my time zone math. I get it wrong and feel like a dork. Making matters more complicated was the time change. European countries and the States do not spring forward on the same dates. I pretty much hide under a snow-clup until that glitch works itself out.
Thanks for all you do!
Sincerely,
Kimberly
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I pretty much have the hang of it, but I do have to stop and think about it. What makes it crazier sometimes is the television - I live in Kansas (CST)so if something is on at "8:00/7:00 Central" I can call a friend at 7:00 here, and if the friend is back home in PA, it's 8:00 there and she's watching the same show. It's weird.
When all else fails, I send a text - "are you awake?" - then I know if it's safe to call or not. LOL
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You can get 4 different clocks and post them in your office - have each one set for each time zone. (Saw this in a decorating magazine). Might make it a little easier! :) I do have a hard time sometimes - and have a sister in Arizona - so sometimes she's an hour different and sometimes not (depending on Daylight Savings). Crazy time zones! :)
I have a trick that works... most of the time. When I wonder wether I have to add or substract, I remember that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Then I think something like "it's 10 am here and the sun has not reached California yet so it's still 8 am there". I don't know if this could help...
I did that all the time when I lived in a different time zone than my family. When I lived in Phoenix that was confusing too, they don't do day light savings, so you changed time zones!
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I hear you. I "work" in Pacific time, which wasn't a problem when I lived in CA. Now I'm in WI and there is a 2 hour difference. I keep my desktop on WI time and my laptop on CA time. To complicate things I deal with people worldwide. England, Belgium, Japan, Philippines. I've given up on figuring out Australia, my people there keep up with me, not the other way around. The Greek talks in WI time, I talk in CA time mostly. I have nightmares about it sometimes
Kar http://flipsidesanity.blogspot.com http://flipsideumami.blogspot.com
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Daylight Savings makes it all the more fun to figure out time zones. I find living on the west coast makes it a little easier though, because all I have to do is add an hour or more, depending on the time zone I'm converting to. : )
I did that once, on my conference call for my interview for a long distance collage... Was THAT a nightmare, I missed it and had to re schedual.
Whats terrible is there is a difference between mountain time in Canada, and Mountain time in the States, so when Im trying to hook up for a conference call, skype thing, or an online chat, it can be rather frustrating... Especially since Saskatchewan doesnt change time at all...
You are so not the only one with this issue! and for some reason I dont have any problem with overseas time conversion, just in North America.
Oh man, don't even get me started on all the havoc wreaked when I try to translate. I lived most of my life in EST and then moved to CST and back to EST and have friends all over the place. Thankfull most of them keep as weird a schedule as I :p
But it is a GREAT way to dodge my mother rofl :D
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I battled the problem for a little bit until we got stationed in Okinawa and I plain gave up. I had gone from just American time zones to international ones. Having to remember whether it was 15 or 16 hours difference, accounting for Daylight Savings Time, plus a few in the middle of the night calls from family back home who thought it was noon over here where enough.
I downloaded a world clock app to my iPod and let it do my time zone calculating now.
I have the same problem. I attend online school. Everything is due in mountain time. You would think it would be easy for me since I'm in central but not so much.
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Heheh, I have that problem a lot too, and it's worse here because Arizona doesn't do the whole Daylight Savings Time thing. So half the year we're "in" one time zone, the other half we're not.
I have the same issue, though not to the extreme. I play City of Heroes, when is an online game and many of the people I play with do not share my time zone. Also, those who run City of Heroes use a website to help their customers determine times, such as server downtime and global events. as I was looking around on the site they use I found this: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.h.... It's a time zone converter. I hope this helps.
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Oh I forgot to mention that timeanddate.com also have an event scheduler. So if int he future you decide to schedule and event for your blog, or have a specific time in when you want to open or closes contests and such, you can use that and post the link for your followers (or your own personal amusement, like this weekends 'Rapture' XD)
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It's pretty easy for me to remember time zones in the United States because I know them really well. It's outside the U.S. that is harder. If I ever need to figure out the time in Europe or elsewhere I have to look it up. I have a clock app on my iPhone that you can input any major city in the world and it tells the current time in that city. It's quite helpful for figuring those things out.
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Life was definitely a lot simpler when everyone I knew was in one time zone! lol
I'm not too bad with it, but living in CA, everything is ahead of me except Hawaii. Although I had a friend in Indiana that I'd never get right, because they didn't change times. lol
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I have no problem with the states... it's my friend in NZ that messes with my head... especially as they spring forward when we fall back... it's horrible!
Oh god... I am the SAME way.... I have friends that live all over, and I just can't do it. I now have this: http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc in my favorites....lol.
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Windows 7's gadget save me from this, I look up alarm clock gadgets an get ones that look different from each other and put them all on my desktop and they are set to the different timezones i have to deal with...that way if I need an alarm and it is to do with someone in a different time zone, i pick their time zone's alarm clock and set it...If I am not going to be at my computer when I need the alarm to go off I can look at the appropriate time zone and see what the current time is there and here and be able to do the math easier for what to set my nightstand clock or phone alarm to go off at...sometimes a visual is all that is required.
I used to have this problem...and it was severe. But then I became a travel agent and dealing with different time zone around the world MAKES you get used to it and understand it. lol It is SO frustrating though!
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I have the same problem!
Maybe a cool wall of clocks showing the different time zones around the world would help? It would certainly be fascinating for Noah and It would look really cool. Amazon has some great ones.
Isnt there an app for that???? :-)
I live in the UK. This means I'm six hours ahead of my family and friends on central time. This only becomes a problem when they decide to ring me later than 6p.m. their time. There's nothing more annoying than hearing the phone ring at 1 or 2a.m. and not getting to it on time. It's then impossible to go back to sleep due to the following questions spinning through my head; Who was it? Was it an emergency? Did someone die? etc...
Luckily, after nearly 12 years, most of them get it right all of the time!
Imagine you are standing on a map of the U.S. @ your exact location, facing the Atlantic Ocean. If you have to walk FORWARD to get to the place where you have to call, then you ADD hrs to figure out the time. If you have to walk BACKWARDS to get there, then you SUBTRACT hours. This only works in the continental US and it doesn't tell you how many hrs, but it helps me.
Also, most phones now have a Time Conversion option? My last phone had a World Map and I could just touch a spot on the map and it would tell me the time...it was pretty cool!
I'm used to timezones actually. While my husband and I were dating, he lived in North Carolina, and I lived in Idaho. Then he was deployed to Iraq. If you think moving timezones for our country is hard, try figuring out +11 hours, then wondering if they do daylight savings time as well (they don't). I also had a friend in Germany, so I had to +8 hours. Then I moved to NC, and was okay, all my time I have to subtract hours. Then I moved across the country to CA, now I have to add hours again. Time's nuts.
Oh yeah- I feel your pain. I live in Texas and have a sister in Hawaii and some business in NY. I am always always getting that screwed up. Then I sometimes operate like i'm in their time zones- way to be too late or too early! Add in the daylight savings time craziness and then we really have armageddon!
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You can buy a clock that you hang on your wall that has three different little clocks on it in three different time zones. Then you wont have to have those embarassing moments. :)
I totally understand! I work in the midwest but with other offices all over the country. I always have to verify what the time is central time when confirming calls/appointments/deadlines. But worst experience is Arizona. They don't to daylight savings - so sometimes they're an hour off, sometimes two!
I hate daylight savings time....just when I get the time zones down- WE change the clocks again!
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I know the feeling. I have met a lot of friends on irc and chat with them all the time. When I can remember what time they will be on. They are from around the world so sometimes I get to the chat just in time to see them all head off to bed or work.
I live in Georgia...it's EST and the online college I go to is in AZ so sometimes it's 3 hours behind me and sometimes it's two because they don't do daylight savings time...that's when it gets confusing for me
Post a list somewhere on the wall near you phone :D
I love the clock wall for your office idea!
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My best friend moved from Tennessee to Idaho last year and I still have trouble with the concept that she is only 1 hour difference. I always think it is 2. It should be 2. I mean come on... When you put it in Map Quest the drive time is 1 day and 6 hours away. That's a 30 hours of driving! That should automatically make it 2 time zones away. LOL
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Check out your cell phone. Alot of phones have some thing called world time, under "tools". Mine has a map where you can scroll along the time zones to see what time is is RIGHT NOW somewhere else. Came in very handy when learning the difference between Eastern, where I live and Alaska, where my brother lives.
Time zones are one of those modern things the human brain isn't yet hard-wired to do. Fortunately there's a pretty foolproof way to figure them out (and yes I DO have to figure them out, nearly every time...).
Think about *why* we have time zones. It's because, right this second, it's morning where some people are, while for others it's evening, and others are in the middle of the night. If we called this "6 am" for everyone it would be awfully confusing and disorienting for those poor evening or middle of the night people, and even the ones who were at midday would find it jarring.
Got that? Ok. Now, next step is to remember the sun moves east to west. So say I'm in Chicago and the sun is just rising. The people in New York will have had their sunrise already - about an hour ago. So if it's 6 am for me, it will be LATER for them (7 am) since the sun will be higher in the sky where they are.
Now for going the other way. Think about Seattle. If the sun is JUST THIS MOMENT rising for me, it won't have gotten to them yet. So it will be DARK there. In other words it will be EARLIER for them (4 am) since the sun won't have risen yet.
I actually do have to go through this thought process each time, but the good news is it does work. The more visual you are about it the better. Picture a big happy Mr. Sun beaming in the middle of the sky, or whatever :D
Dan, I'm in the same time zone as you, so feel free to contact me for an easy, stress-free interview anytime! No time zone calculations needed!
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I dunno, they aren't that hard. Though I do forget if pacific time is one or two hours behind me (i am in central) on occasion. buf for the most part, domestic time zones are easy...the international ones are hard!
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That's what search engines are for. I just put in "time in __________" so I don't have to figure it out in my head. The 'puter gives me the correct time in that area, and my brain doesn't explode trying to figure out the difference!
I think I do this at least once a week!
My brother is stationed in S.Korea with the US Army and he has two clocks in his computer room, one on his time (With a S.Koren flag on it) and one on our time (With a Texas flag on it) that way he knows when to skype! :)