# Do you set your clock fast?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 7, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507 "2011-09-07T16:20:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Karen\_X2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_X2)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/1 "2011-09-07T16:20:18Z")
This has always bugged me. Lots of people seem to set their clocks - house, car, etc…fast. some 5 min, and one of my friends has hers set at home and in the car 15 minutes fast. My S.O. has his set 7 minutes fast. But they KNOW that it’s set fast. So what’s the point? I like mine right on the dot. I don’t have to do the math in my head to know if I’m on time, late or early. For those of you out there that do this, please please PLEASE tell me why.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/2 "2011-09-07T16:35:10Z")
although i don’t do it:
the only people i’ve known to do that are females. maybe it works on some girl brains. you are still on time and you don’t feel as much pressure to hurry. less pressure, no failure of being late.
bugs me too.
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### Author:  [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/3 "2011-09-07T16:39:04Z")
I set the clock by my bedside fast by the amount of time it normally takes me to drive to work.
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### Author:  [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/4 "2011-09-07T16:41:35Z")
I set my bedside clock 30 minutes fast. Why? It tricks my brain into thinking that it is the correct time when I am still half asleep followed by relief that I can sleep another half hour.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/5 "2011-09-07T16:45:10Z")
My Wife sets her bedside clock and the clock in her car 15 min fast. Drives me nuts. I put my foot down when it comes to the rest of the clocks in the house. They are on the dot as they should be.
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### Author:  [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/6 "2011-09-07T16:57:53Z")
> [@johnpost](#):
>
> … maybe it works on some girl brains. …
> bugs me too.
I’m guessing that the best way for me to tell if I have a girl brain is to check for swelling in the crotch.
> [@Karen\_X2](#):
>
> This has always bugged me.
> … what’s the point? I like mine right on the dot.
I have done this in the past. I do consciously know that it’s fast, but I still react to what the clock says as though it’s correct.
If I need to leave at 10:00, and the clock says 10:00, I feel like I should be leaving; even though I consciously know it’s 9:55.
I wonder if any bartenders are going to chime in on this issue…
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### Author:  [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/7 "2011-09-07T17:12:10Z")
It drives me nuts. It defeats the entire purpose of having standardized time in the first place. Fortunately, with cell phones everywhere these days, I’m seeing less of it. But I remember one time traveling with one of our company’s executives who had told me to meet him in the hotel lobby at 7:30 am for breakfast before we met with our client. So I’m down there at 7:25 watching the elevator and he never shows. Reluctantly, after waiting until 7:45 (twenty minutes), I head into the restaurant where I find him just finishing up. He then proceeds to give me a ration of sh!# for being late when I was actually five minutes early! Only then did I notice that he kept his watch twenty minutes fast. :smack: When I asked him about that, he told me that he had never lost a deal by being too early.
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### Author:  [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/8 "2011-09-07T17:18:03Z")
Personally, I don’t set my clock fast. I try to set it to whatever clock is most important. For example, when I went to school, I wanted to be sure that my watches and clocks were synchronized to the school’s.
But I know plenty of people who do set clocks fast, and I think the reason is simply the tiny bit of stress felt in reconciling the times. You might know on a rational level that a clock at 10:00 means it is really only 9:55, but there’s a part of your brain that motivates you to get moving anyway. You don’t have to successfully trick your whole brain as long as one piece of it is willing to get some adrenaline going. Once the adrenaline is going, there’s no point in sitting around for an extra 5 minutes.
(I think it’s similar to the fact that $9.99 is virtually the same as $10.00, but retail stores still report that the former sells better. Part of your brain responds because it doesn’t understand math.)
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/9 "2011-09-07T17:19:15Z")
So it sounds like it’s an alternative to planning properly, being organised and avoiding procrastination enough to just be punctual.
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### Author:  [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/10 "2011-09-07T17:27:38Z")
You folks are all pikers. What I do is, I set my clock _slow_. But because I know it’s slow, I get really nervous about being late, and that makes me hurry up so that I end up actually being early.
(Just kidding.)
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/11 "2011-09-07T17:42:59Z")
My husband and I both set our watches slightly fast, as well as our alarm clocks and the car’s clock. Not too fast - just a few minutes. All other clocks are correct in the house. We know they’re fast, but react on the spot as if we need to beat that time. Both of us hate being late so much that we’d arrive on time even if we didn’t do this, but prefer the comfort of setting those clocks ahead just a bit. (We generally have an hour to wait between clearing security and the boarding time of our flight, for instance, so it’s not to compensate for poor planning.)
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### Author:  [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/12 "2011-09-07T17:52:29Z")
I used to do this, although only 5-10 minutes. I have known people who would set clocks as much as 30 minutes fast, especially in the car on beside alarm clocks.
One reason for me was that I had analog (and maybe even some early digital?) clocks that ran slow, so you could never trust them to have the exact time. Better fast than slow.
It also did seem to help me run on time, even though I knew intellectually that the clock was fast.
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### Author:  [@PacifistPorcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PacifistPorcupine)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/13 "2011-09-07T18:05:36Z")
My alarm clock is one of those that picks up the time from the atomic clock radio signal, so no I don’t set it fast. I don’t wear a watch, I use my cellphone for that, and that’s also on whatever time it syncs with.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/14 "2011-09-07T18:13:06Z")
Thread moved to “In My Humble Opinion.”
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### Author:  [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/15 "2011-09-07T18:19:02Z")
Setting my watch fast would be pointless, because I’d always compensate mentally anyway. When it matters what time it is, I want to know _exactly_ what time it is. When it doesn’t matter, I don’t wear a watch anyway.
Since my wife works in broadcast TV, our house is full of clocks that synchronize to the cesium clock in Colorado.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/16 "2011-09-07T18:20:02Z")
The clock in my car is set fast and runs fast so it’s moved from four minutes fast to six minutes over the last year. I didn’t set it that way, I just never fixed it and I do still try to make it to work by “8:00” despite logically knowing it’s only 7:54.
It’s also nice when it’s 8:02 to know I’m not really late yet.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/17 "2011-09-07T18:32:57Z")
Nope. I’m miffed because my car clock is currently about 20 seconds fast.
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### Author:  [@Krouget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krouget)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/18 "2011-09-07T18:57:58Z")
> [@Karen\_X2](#):
>
> This has always bugged me. Lots of people seem to set their clocks - house, car, etc..fast. some 5 min, and one of my friends has hers set at home and in the car 15 minutes fast. My S.O. has his set 7 minutes fast. But they KNOW that it’s set fast. So what’s the point? I like mine right on the dot. I don’t have to do the math in my head to know if I’m on time, late or early. For those of you out there that do this, please please PLEASE tell me why.
I never understood this, either. My father does this and it doesn’t make any difference, since he can’t effectively convince himself that the time is standard. All it seems to do is create unnecessary anxiety, which he really doesn’t need.
When “late”, he knows he has the additional time, anyway. So far as I’m concerned, just leave earlier.
It makes it even more confusing when you get into his vehicle, and you’re thrown off, followed by his explaining that the time is fast. So you’re on your time, and he’s on your time +5, but not really…
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### Author:  [@Karen\_X2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_X2)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/19 "2011-09-07T19:28:02Z")
So this confirms exactly what I’ve suspected.
Those of you that set your clocks, watches, etc. KNOW that they are fast.
I just think that if I wake up, and even for those first few groggy moments, that I am on time, that feeling quickly dissolves when I realize my clock is fast. I’d rather sleep the extra few minutes. Now I have to do the whole math routine in my head just to figure out what time it really is. It just seems like too much work. But, if it works for you, then I guess that’s ok. But I still don’t understand the reasoning.
I just wonder how many of you will wake up tomorrow morning and think “Crap. Karen is right. This math thing is just too much work. I could be sleeping”
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/20 "2011-09-07T20:56:28Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:15, topic:595507”]
Setting my watch fast would be pointless, because I’d always compensate mentally anyway. When it matters what time it is, I want to know _exactly_ what time it is. When it doesn’t matter, I don’t wear a watch anyway.
[/QUOTE]
This. I travel by train a fair bit. Knowing the correct time is the priority. I can do punctuality without resorting to absurd artifice.
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