Tick/Tock

Posted on 07.28.05 2:04PM in complaints, family

Before I begin, I would like to make it clear that I love my mother very much. She reads my writing, so I wouldn’t want her to get the wrong idea about anything I post online.

That being said, the woman has the most skewed concept of time in the world. All of the clocks in our house (with the exception of the ones in my bedroom) are set to be approximately five minutes ahead of the actual time. Her reasoning is understandable: she never wants to be late.

Therefore, one would assume that it is easy to be able to know the correct time while looking at any clock in my house. All you would really have to do is subtract five minutes from the time which is upon the clock,. However, like many of life’s false promises, this protocol is full of flaws due to the fact that absolutely none of the clocks in the Peterson household are set to the same time.

Take, for example, a sample reading of a few of the house’s timepieces:
* The clock on the wall in the dining room (that is taped together with scotch tape because I accidentally made it fall one time) reads 10:48.
* There lies a small desktop clock atop the wine rack in the dining room that reads 10:31.
* In the living room, there’s a clock that chimes every 15 minutes. It reads 10:46.
* On the wall in the living room, there is a nifty cuckoo clock that reads 10:47.
* There also sits a cheap grandfather clock in the dining room that my brother got for my mother for her birthday or something a few years ago. It reads 3:50, but I’m pretty sure the reason for that inaccuracy can be attributed to a lack of consistent winding. Anyhow, it still contributes to the point at hand.
* The actual time, according to “The Man”:http://www.time.gov/, is 10:43.

The success of my mother’s goal of punctuality, therefore, is wholly dependent on which room you’re in before you leave. Me? I’ll just sit at my computer and be five minutes late to every place I go.

Read Comments

  1. Posted by Ian on 10.15.05 at 19:17:50

    That grandfather clock cost me a whole $99.99!

  2. Posted by Christina on 10.15.05 at 19:18:19

    my house is the same way. i have three clocks in my room that are set at 30 minutes ahead so i am not late for anything. however, my mom still manages to make me late for everything. even with a clock 10 minutes fast in the living room.

  3. Posted by Angus on 10.15.05 at 19:19:00

    Accurate within 1/100th of a second

  4. Posted by Stefarino on 10.15.05 at 19:19:35

    I usually go by the dining room one…didnt know it was taped together… ;)

  5. Posted by Anisi on 10.15.05 at 19:19:59

    My mom’s the same way.

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