The American Concept of Time

People of different cultures have differing views of time, its qualities and its uses. The American concept of time is largely, shared with Northern Europeans and though there are regional and personal variations among Americans, some generalizations can be made.
Americans consider time a commodity, a tangible thing. This can be demonstrated in the words that Americans use in describing what they do with time. Time can be bought or sold, saved or spent. People can waste time or lose it, and then they can make up for its loss.
Americans usually make appointments with only one person at a time. American business people find it disconcerting in a country where this is not the practice, to arrive for a business appointment and discover that the person they are meeting is carrying on business with several other people at the same time.
Americans tend to distinguish whether or not a person is engaged in an activity. They do not consider "just sitting" and thinking or meditating to be doing anything . One must be actively involved in writing, listening, talking, playing a game and etc, to be considered as doing anything, so I thought I'd stop in and talk," are commonly made".
Americans don't question the view that the time should be planned and future events fitted into a schedule. The past is not to be dwelled on too much. The future is not very far ahead. People generally plan one or two years abead usually not more than five. Beyond that, the future doesn't seem too real. However, promises to meet deadlines are taken seriously, and therefore there are penalties for failing to keep such minutes etc.. For example, a person who says "I'll be there in forty five minutes" means that barring unforeseen circumstances she will arrive in about forty five minutes and probably not more  than a few  minutes earlier or later. If person says " I lived in Europe for sixth months " She/he lived in Europe for about sixth months and probably not over a month more or less. Although some of the vocabulary for informal time is the same as for formal time (seconds, minutes, hours, years) the meaning depend on the context and on the individual who is speaking "I'll be there  in a second," can mean any time up to several minutes. "This going to take years" can refer to a length of time from minutes to actual years. Other vocabulary words used in informal time include  "later' soon and a while."
Durations of time sometimes carries a message with it. For example promptness for a business appointment is important. Lateness is a sign of disrespect the amount of disrespect being correlated to the numbers of minutes late. To be a few minutes to the person you early shows deference to the person  you are meet. Being up to five minutes late is not significant in most case. Being from to five fifteen minutes later a requires a sincere apology and an explanation of the circumstances that delayed you and prevented you from calling and notifying the person. The cite another example of the messages that duration of time can give, the statements "He spent an hour with the President " and " Ms Bradley  could only give us ten minutes of her time" also convey messages about the importance of the business. If the president spends the other hand, if Ms.Bradley could only spare ten minutes, she probably did not consider the matter to be of great importance .
Time of day can also convey messages related to importance For,example, one does not usually call people early in the morning (when they are getting ready for school or work) or later than ten o'clock at night except on a matter of utmost importance. In facet one does not usually call during normal sleeping hours except for life and death concerns.
Time of arrival is important in social situations. For example if you are invited to an American home for dinner and are told" We'll be eating at 6:00 " you are expected to arrive ten minutes early. If you are told "Please  come at 6:00 you are expected at 6:00- certainly not more than a fews minutes later, because the meal will be prepared so that if can be served at a certain time. However the time of arrival, especially in social situations  is much more loosely given on the West Coast. If you are asked to arrive at 6:00 you are not expected much before 6: 30.
There are of course exceptions to these rules about time.Young people tend to be more casual about deadlines, appointments etc. than older  people. People from different countries living in the United States may have different rules from the general population, especially if they live and work  in a community with other people of similar background.