After a year or two of living around the German landscape, you come to a dozen-odd things that you seem to focus on now....maybe more than what you used to focus upon. Punctuality is one of those odd things.
You notice punctuality when using the railway system. When the schedule says the train leaves at 6:32 AM.....over an entire year, it's about a 90-percent chance that this train will leave on time. If bad weather affects things, or maintenance issues pop up....then it'll push punctuality around a bit. But that's rare.
If there's maintenance being done on Autobahn such-and-such, and they say it'll be in some slow-down phase for nineteen months.....the odds are that it will reopen by the 20th month.
Given an appointment with some German bureaucratic office? You will notice that they really do expect you to be there on time. And yes, they will let you know of their disappointment that you were seven minutes late.
German classes run the same way, they expect you to be walking into the room with a few minutes to spare.
Why this hype on punctuality? I've asked this question and no one can really answer it. Most suggest that it's historic in nature, and part of the German landscape for centuries.
Last year, I went to a concert in Frankfurt, which had a start-time of 19:30. It was one of the few times that I can remember where punctuality did not occur, and they delayed the start of the concert by 20 minutes. You could sense aggravation with the crowd, as the long drawn-out stall was underway.
So when you have to deal with Germans and they note some meeting to occur....at a particular time....don't be late!
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