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Martha was always late. She couldn’t help it. She was
late whenever she made an appointment with friends,
she was late when she went to see a film, she was late
when she had an appointment with the doctor or the
dentist, she was even late for work. Until one day, her
boss called her.
“Martha”, he said “if you’re late one more day, I’ll fire
you!”
Martha went home crying and not knowing what to do
to solve her problem. She had a watch, she had a clock
at home, and an alarm clock but nothing seemed to
help her to be on time.
She called her best friend, Kathy, to tell her what had
happened.
“I told you” Kathy said “you can’t be always late.”
“But, what can I do?”
“It’s very simple” said Kathy “you always have to leave
home with enough time to get to your destination and
add another 15 minutes in case anything unexpected
happens.”
“Can you give me an example?”
“Yes, of course, but first I need to know some things.
How long does it take you to get to work?” asked
Kathy.
“It takes me about half an hour” answered Martha.
“What time do you start work?” asked Kathy
“I start at half past eight (8.30am)” replied Martha
“Well, then, to be on time for work you should leave
your house at quarter to eight (7.45am)”
“I’ll give you another example. Suppose you have an
appointment with the doctor at 5pm and it takes you
twenty minutes to get there, then you should leave
home at around 4.20pm (Twenty past four)” added
Kathy.
“But I already do this” said Martha “I get up at seven
(7am). I have a shower at five past seven (7.05am), I
get dressed at seven fifteen (7.15am), I have breakfast
at half past seven 7.30am and then I leave home at
about a quarter to eight (7.45am) exactly like you
suggested.”
“How come you’re always late, then?” asked Kathy
“I don’t know” replied Martha.
“I know. I’m sure you stop on your way many times. If
you stop for more than 15 minutes then you’ll always
be late.”
“That can’t be true.”
“Yes, it can. I remember last time we made an
appointment you were half an hour late. You told me
you had to call your office and you had to go to the
supermarket because you had forgotten to buy some
eggs.”
“Yes, that’s true. But that wasn’t half an hour.”
“Yes, it was half an hour. Martha, you’ve got a serious
problem calculating the time. You must set an alarm
on your phone to remind you of the time.”
“That’s too stressful.”
“Well, you don’t want to lose your job, do you?”
asked Kathy
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