# Do you set your clock fast? **URL:** \ **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:** 16\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/101 "2011-09-11T17:38:50Z")
> [@Karen\_X2](#): > > 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” Speaking of math and waking up, my husband just installed an alarm clock on his phone that makes you do math problems to turn off the alarm or to snooze (they are settings–it isn’t automatic). That would wake me up for sure. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/102 "2011-09-11T23:51:35Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > A clock that is offset for one particular purpose is rendered less useful for other purposes. > > Also, fixing the problem in this way would, I think, make the person less able to deal with timekeeping out in the world, where the option of offsetting the clock is not available. > > It’s more complex because it means dealing with two systems instead of one. > > And you can’t possibly condense the variety of different lead times you may need into one single offset, so ot doesn’t even remove the burden of planning as you suggest. Bingo. Bingo and bingo. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/103 "2011-09-12T02:41:53Z")
I just checked with the person who has her car clock set 8 minutes ahead. It turns out that she just hasn’t reset it properly because it’s a pain to do. I’ll reset it for her next time I’m in her car; it’ll make my life easier. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hazynlazy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bb73d2/32.png) [@hazynlazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazynlazy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/104 "2011-09-12T02:45:08Z")
Back in college, one of my roommates was terrible with time and would always be late. Too often, we’d be going out somewhere, and we’d try to rush him but he’d inevitably spend too much time in his room getting ready or talking on the phone and we’d get to the corner just in time to see the bus fly by (cue: saved by the bell theme song). So we started lying to him about when the bus left. That worked for awhile, until he caught on to what we were doing and memorized the bus schedule. Finally, we had no choice but to set his clock six minutes fast. He never did catch on. And we we always caught the bus. Of course, if I had my way, we would have just left when we wanted to and if he didn’t make it, it was his own fault. But somehow my other roommates said we couldn’t be so rude since we had to live with him. They failed to see the rudeness in him always making us late, not to mention always having to remind him of when we had to leave as if we were his parents. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/105 "2011-09-12T06:36:55Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Ugh, that habit annoys me no end. It’s silly enough when people do it at home. But when a business or agency or something does it, and they close at say 5:00, and you get there at 4:54, and they’ve already locked up because their clocks say 5:01—it’s damned exasperating. > > I’m a 52 year old woman, and I’ve been annoyed by it since my 20s. > > It doesn’t make any sense, because you’re trying to trick your own mind into believing it’s later than it really is. But you already know full well you set it in advance on purpose. So, knowing that, you somehow have to divide your mind into compartments to make yourself forget that it isn’t the actual time. The whole concept of playing tricks on yourself like that, and what’s more blanking out part of your consciousness to deceive yourself, is just too weird for me. I mean, have some more respect for your own mind than that. This is kind of a different (though slightly related) issue. Bars to this too, only it’s not 5 minutes, it’s 15 minutes. Many retail places do it as a sort of non-confrontational way to keep rude people out of their stores right before closing. There are seemingly millions of people who are either completely clueless about, or don’t care, that’s its rude beyond compare to wander into a store 5 minutes before it closes and proceed to wander, and shop, and take 15 minutes to order, and expect full bore service and so on. It’s also a nasty sort of “classism” or similar bad attitude, in that many who behave that way see the store clerks as some invisible non-issue that doesn’t figure into the equation. They don’t have feelings, needs, or wants, and how dare they have expectations of being treated with common courtesy and decency. Some coworkers and I, after a long hard day in the wilderness, blew into a town that we knew nothing about. The ONLY place to get something to eat was a subway which was about 6 minutes from closing. We all apologized profusely, and explained that if we weren’t at the only choice we wouldn’t have done it, we took what they still had up, and didn’t whine about them being out of, or having put stuff away. They were so appreciative that we didn’t give them that entitled nasty “YOU’RE still OPEN” crap, that we all got free cookies. And they thanked US for apologizing and understanding. They said you’ve no idea how many people are simply ugly and entitled about it. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/106 "2011-09-12T06:45:57Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I understand the reasons people are stating for doing it. I’m deeply doubtful that it actually helps. It’s an additional variable, and it’s a fixed one, meaning: > -You have one more problem (working out what the time really is) > and > -It can only be useful for one particular category of timekeeping problem - so a five minute advance on your clock might help you get your ass on the sofa in time to watch TV (does anyone really have that problem), but that advance isn’t going to help you be in time for an appointment that has a half hour journey in front of it. > > I guess I’m just surprised that what I expected would be an uncommon quirk is a bit more mainstream than I thought. No, I really don’t have any problems working out what time it really is. Despite the fact that I’m not sure EXACTLY how far ahead the alarm clock or cuckoo clock is set. The cuckoo clock, well I have sucky pendulum fu, so it’s always a bit ahead or a bit behind, and it’s safer to keep it a bit ahead. All I have to do is look at the cell phone or kitchen clock, they’re right. The kitchen clock and my cell phone are correct. So, the alarm goes off, I get to glance over and see a not horrible number on the clock, and then laze there for a bit trying to wake up. When I finally stagger into the kitchen, I see what time it really is and it always makes me smile. Yay, I’m on-time/early as usual. As I said, it has NOTHING to do with fooling myself as to what time it may or may not be on the set ahead clocks. I don’t get why it matters to strangers who never have to even so much as see our wild unconventional clocks though. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/107 "2011-09-12T07:01:42Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > I don’t get why it matters to strangers who never have to even so much as see our wild unconventional clocks though. It _doesn’t_ matter. We’ve been discussing it in a public forum, but that doesn’t mean it matters. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/108 "2011-09-13T03:21:29Z")
My wife sets clocks ahead, and it drives me nuts. A clock set to the incorrect time is offensive to the engineer brain - a fundimentally _wrong_ thing. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/109 "2011-09-13T10:37:33Z")
I’ve never done this but I’m going to try it tomorrow. I’ve been late for work several times in the last couple of weeks and I need to try every trick that I can. To those people in this thread who just say “Why aren’t you just organised, keep better time etc”, all I can say is, people are not always late on purpose or because they don’t care. It’s a failing and I’m sure you have yours. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/110 "2011-09-14T13:29:03Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I’ve never done this but I’m going to try it tomorrow. I’ve been late for work several times in the last couple of weeks and I need to try every trick that I can. Update: It didn’t work. I just kept thinking about what the real time was. And I was late again. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/111 "2011-09-14T13:35:57Z")
The trick, **Mijin** , is to have someone _else_ set the clock fast. You just don’t know by how much… ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/112 "2011-09-14T14:06:31Z")
This whole thread is weird. - I handle times out in the “real world” just fine. I mean, WTF does that even mean? My watch is five minutes fast, so I am never late anywhere, really. There’s no two clocks set to the same time anyway, to be honest. - As I said, I am almost never late to anything. The only times I am late are if I am lost in a new city. I don’t have a very good direction sense, and still occasionally get mixed up in the one-way streets of my own city. - I am ever so slightly offended that someone called it “ridiculous”. Sure, sure, I don’t care what you say, you don’t care about me, it’s an online forum, but as I said, it’s comforting, so why is it ridiculous because you don’t get it? I think our biggest failure as human beings is a complete inability to put ourselves in other people’s shoes…“Hmm, it doesn’t work for me, but lots of other people do it, so maybe it works for them.” Nope, all we can do is denigrate it. “It’s more complex because it deals with two systems instead of one.” Bwuh? So…we’re smarter than the other people who don’t do this, because we can handle two systems? No, I know that’s not what was meant, but that’s certainly how it comes off! I can handle two systems just fine, TYVM! > [@](#): > > The kitchen clock and my cell phone are correct. So, the alarm goes off, I get to glance over and see a not horrible number on the clock, and then laze there for a bit trying to wake up. When I finally stagger into the kitchen, I see what time it really is and it always makes me smile. Yay, I’m on-time/early as usual. +1 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/113 "2011-09-14T16:35:28Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > - I am ever so slightly offended that someone called it “ridiculous”. Sure, sure, I don’t care what you say, you don’t care about me, it’s an online forum, but as I said, it’s comforting, so why is it ridiculous because you don’t get it? For that, I apologise. I did indeed mean that I don’t get it - It’s like watching someone trying to use what, to my eyes, is patently the wrong tool for the job - but insisting that it’s working, when it really doesn’t look like it is. I’m absolutely certain there will be things I do that other people perceive the same way (I mean, aside from the ridiculous things I do on purpose, in full knowledge that they’re ridiculous). > [@](#): > > I think our biggest failure as human beings is a complete inability to put ourselves in other people’s shoes… I agree. > [@](#): > > “Hmm, it doesn’t work for me, but lots of other people do it, so maybe it works for them.” Nope, all we can do is denigrate it. Frankly, I doubt it really does work as well as all that, at least not for nearly as many people as try it, but it doesn’t really matter - so I should not have been so rude, and I’m sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/114 "2011-09-16T12:11:32Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:95, topic:595507”] Am I missing something, **Shodan**? Wouldn’t that scenario make you at least fifteen minutes late? [/QUOTE] Not if you drive faster than light. Regards, Shodan OK, I miscounted. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/115 "2011-09-17T06:22:24Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > Speaking of math and waking up, my husband just installed an alarm clock on his phone that makes you do math problems to turn off the alarm or to snooze (they are settings–it isn’t automatic). That would wake me up for sure. Math problems? That would make me grab an Uzi and climb the nearest clock tower! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507/116 "2011-09-17T06:24:54Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It _doesn’t_ matter. We’ve been discussing it in a public forum, but that doesn’t mean it matters. Well…it seems to matter, people keep going on and on with “But WHYYYyyeeeee” and “I still don’t understand why/how it works” … and “it’s ridiculous” and so on and so forth. Forgot to add, for those still wondering. I’m not late either. And when I’m on a field job and have to use the hotel alarm clock I don’t usually reset it. It’s just not as (as someone else said) comforting to look at such an ugly early time. And yes, the numbers on the clock if too early DO bother me (and from what other dopers have said in this thread) others that much. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-set-your-clock-fast/595507.md?page=5)