Timing Is Everything

You know how when you were a kid, your Mum always used to nag you to do things and get a commitment as to when you would actually do it? And you know how because she made you commit to a deadline, you really wanted to push things and take longer to do it than you would have before? Well, you may think that this has absolutely nothing to do with sitting at the back of the bus (and you’d probably be right) but let me now start this from another angle.

When I first began work as a casual employee, I was protected under an award which told me the least I could expect from my employer in terms of wages, shifts and breaks etc. I was also aware of what I was required to provide in return, ie. notice of resignation should I choose to leave and the like. This was pretty much an industry standard but everyone knew where they stood and this was good. I’ve heard it suggested that we should have the same thing in (potential) relationships however, and I think the idea has some merit.

I mean to a certain extent, there already is somewhat of an industry standard on when you should call after the exchange of phone numbers. Whenever I ask people how long should you wait to call, most people say three days. No hesitation, just three days. But it does get a little more confusing when you start to ask are they calendar days or working days? Depending on who you speak to, it seems to depend on when the initial contact was made.

If for example, you chatted up some hot babe on a Thursday night, the third day would be the Sunday right? So should you ring them up Sunday night? Some say not. Monday is possible but Tuesday looks even better as it is not the very beginning of the next week. The trick here is apparently not to look desperate and Tuesday conveniently falls into the three working days rule as well. If on the other hand, you chatted up a real looker on Saturday, you definitely shouldn’t be looking at talking to them before Wednesday.

What do you do if you meet someone on a Tuesday or a Wednesday though? Do you wait until the next week to call them? Risk the ardour (if you had any) cooling? Do you call on the Friday or the Saturday, the two biggest date nights in the week or suck it up and call the next day hoping you could be out on one of those date nights? If we only had some sort of standard for these things, it would be so much easier. You don’t really want to be told when to call, you may not want to feel committed to calling but just like every kid worth his spit knows you never try to sit up the front of a school bus, it’d be nice if timing was not something you worried about, it was something you knew.