Where Am I?????

Today's telephone conversation with a customer was a little jaw-dropping for me. He had left me a message on my voice mail last night. Since he is located in the Central Time Zone, I took care of some early matters before calling him around 9 am Eastern time. I will paraphrase the conversation below because I didn't record it.

Me: "Hello. This is Kevin from Raleigh returning your call."

Customer: "Oh, hello. I didn't expect your call this early. What time is it there in the East?"

Me: "9 am."

Customer: "Oh, it's 8 am here."

Me (thinking): "Duh!"

Customer: "I thought that the East was an hour behind us here in Kansas."

Me (thinking): "An hour behind Kansas?? What is he thinking? Doesn't he know the sun rises in the EAST???? Where did he go to school??"

After my initial shock, I answered the man's questions and quickly hung up the phone. I just couldn't get over the fact that he was so ignorant about such common knowledge! I realize that most Americans are very ignorant about geography, but for a person to not even have a general knowledge of the time zones in his own country seems out of whack to me. What has happened to real education? Are we so focused on the latest gadget and gizmo, that we are missing the basics? I know that the location of the Pamir Mountains (Tajikistan) or the capital of Tuvalu (Funafuti) will not be general knowledge for Americans (most can't even find their own state on a map!), but ALL should know what time zone they are in and where it is in relation to the other 5 zones the USA has.

I believe it's time to get back to some basics early and make sure there is a complete understanding of such knowledge before moving on to more "exciting" and "modern" topics.

Until next time, here's a reminder--Kansas is in the Central Time Zone, which is an hour later than Raleigh in the Eastern Time Zone!