On Sunday evenings, my father-in-law can be found dispensing helpful information to wayward travelers, as a green coat volunteer at Vancouver International Airport. He loves the job and takes great pride in it, especially last Sunday when he told me that he was the ONLY green coat working the ENTIRE airport. Imagine the responsibility.
He’s had a few fleeting brushes with fame—Renee Zelwegger, Eric Stoltz, and Daniel Sedin, or was it Henrik Sedin (apparently, only their mother can tell the difference). The stories he often shares are usually ones about confused passengers who are convinced that someone from their hotel or cruise line, or tour company is supposed to meet them at the airport, when it turns out that no such arrangement had been made. Conversely, there are stories about lax (or lazy) tour operators who are late picking up passengers, creating unnecessary anxiety for many visitors. But one story still sticks with me.
A confused looking woman came up to my father-in-law, and asked, “Where do I find Air New Zealand’s nine-thirty flight to Auckland?”
“That flight has already left,” he answered. “It departed at 7:30 PM.”
“But my itinerary says nine-thirty. See, right here…it says 1930,” she continued, showing her itinerary to my father-in-law.
He had to tell this distraught, teary-eyed woman that 1930 is not 9:30 PM, but rather the 24-hour clock equivalent to 7:30 PM, and that she had indeed missed her 14-hour flight to New Zealand. Fortunately, someone was still at the Air New Zealand ticket counter, and my father-in-law directed her there for assistance.
An amusing tale of course for those of us who have never been in such a predicament, but it begs the question, how many of us are familiar with 24-hour time, and is it being taught in school, or is it simply dismissed as some obscure military practice?
He’s had a few fleeting brushes with fame—Renee Zelwegger, Eric Stoltz, and Daniel Sedin, or was it Henrik Sedin (apparently, only their mother can tell the difference). The stories he often shares are usually ones about confused passengers who are convinced that someone from their hotel or cruise line, or tour company is supposed to meet them at the airport, when it turns out that no such arrangement had been made. Conversely, there are stories about lax (or lazy) tour operators who are late picking up passengers, creating unnecessary anxiety for many visitors. But one story still sticks with me.
A confused looking woman came up to my father-in-law, and asked, “Where do I find Air New Zealand’s nine-thirty flight to Auckland?”
“That flight has already left,” he answered. “It departed at 7:30 PM.”
“But my itinerary says nine-thirty. See, right here…it says 1930,” she continued, showing her itinerary to my father-in-law.
He had to tell this distraught, teary-eyed woman that 1930 is not 9:30 PM, but rather the 24-hour clock equivalent to 7:30 PM, and that she had indeed missed her 14-hour flight to New Zealand. Fortunately, someone was still at the Air New Zealand ticket counter, and my father-in-law directed her there for assistance.
An amusing tale of course for those of us who have never been in such a predicament, but it begs the question, how many of us are familiar with 24-hour time, and is it being taught in school, or is it simply dismissed as some obscure military practice?
The 24-hour clock has been used for centuries, and is a convention of time keeping in which the day runs from midnight to midnight and is divided into 24 hours, indicated by the hours passed since midnight, from 0 to 23. It is the most commonly used time notation in the world today. The day begins at 00:00 (midnight) and the last minute of the day is at 23:59. Its use is intended to prevent any ambiguity.
If 24-hour time isn’t being taught in schools, then maybe it should.
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4 comments:
They taught the 24 hour clock to us in grade 6. However, the teacher told us that what we were being taught was called "Metric Time". We thought nothing of it, because we were the generation going thru elementary school when metric was being phased in. It seemed every year there was a new way of measuring something in metric, so it seemed only normal that time was going metric, too.
When I was at school in England, I remember my late friend Aaron loftily telling me he "didn't understand 'Military Time'". As was usual when he would make these sorts of pronouncements, it took a good deal of strength not to display my irritation with him.
I thought this was ridiculous, as A) I had never before heard of the 24-hour clock being referred to as 'Military Time' and 2) by that time (ha), we had been there for *months* and 'Military Time' had been everywhere: throughout the Tube, all train stations, you name it.
I first learned the 24-hour clock while in French immersion, in elementary school. School was over at 15h00, which was easy to remember as 3 pm is at the 15-minute mark on the analog clock.
I suppose if I had thought about it, I might have thought of it as "French Time".
MD
What about the poor fools trying to find OS8216, LO4272, BD4854, SK3892, BD4896, SK3896 and AY5996? To quote a couple at Int'l departures last May: "I had no idea so many European airlines flew to Heathrow from Vancouver!"
- Geoff G.
I had forgotten that I had later learned it was called "military time". It made sense to me, only 'cos I liked to watch WWII movies when I was in high school. Wait, I still do.
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