A little test last Saturday
Around 11 o’clock in the morning seven companies were supposed to deliver furniture to our guesthouse in Lima.
The order was placed by our mission doctors John a week ago, the correspondent contracts were already signed and a down-payment made. The director of Administration, Stefan Seiler, wanted to pay the remaining sum right away electronically after the delivery of the furniture was made.
From the companies, one of the furniture companies delivered 4 hours late (gold medal). Another delivery came at 4pm (5 hours= silver medal). Two of the companies brought the furniture 7 hours late (bronze medal). Since the BCP-bank is closed on Saturday afternoon in Peru Diospi Suyana could not pay the remaining sum. Because of this the delivery men carried the sofas, table and mattresses back out of the house. 3 companies didn’t show up at all (maybe they were afraid of the drug test).
In Peru a time appointment is only a declaration of intent with no binding character. Even written, accepted appointments have no deeper meaning. If you complain about this, Peruvians generally don’t understand why Europeans get upset at all.
Are there notable exceptions? Luckily there are. The train (subway) connects more than 20 stations in Lima. The train was supposed to arrive at 5:42 pm at the districts “Parque Industrial”. As a matter of fact it arrived ten seconds before the scheduled time at the train station. A great accomplishment.
