Moments D685: Jamaica Clocks

This morning, bright and ugly (after all, I think we hit the bed around 2am after our late arrival!) the family, EQ and I were up early to meet up with our Nolitours representative Amelle.  We were all eager to hear about the offerings of the resort and what other day trips/tours that were available to us.

And though the rest of the day ended up being a very delicious lazy day at the beach, with a permanent drinks in hand, the moment that made me smile the most, surprisingly, came from this early morning meeting.

Amelle was thorough in her explanation of what the Sunset Jamaica Grande could offer us.  From free onsite kayaking to offsite tours for a small fee, she had answers to many questions.  She even had an answer for a question I asked from the audience:

"Why are there no clocks in the rooms?"

Amelle's explanation:  The outlets in our rooms were look the same as those we had at home (110 volts) but they actually cycle slower at 50 HZ.  As everyone in the audience looked around quizzically at one another, Amelle stood patiently at the front of the room.  Then, with a wink, she continued her explanation:  because the cycles were slower, digital clocks were unable to keep proper time and would always run late.  Yes, that's right, always run late.  Therefore, there really was no point in keeping digital clocks in the room when they didn't keep proper time.  She joked that we're on vacation and we shouldn't mind the time anyway!

I found it rather amusing because there is a stereotype that Jamaicans are always late.  It all makes perfect sense.  It's not them, it's their electricity causing the lateness after all, the slow cycling of digital clocks keeping slow time certainly isn't helpful to keeping on time!

Silly, enlightening moments.

Moments enjoying a silly wink.

Moments realizing how, over time (sorry for the pun!) stereotypes can be formed.