Ignacio Buqueras, promoter and honorary president of the National Commission for the Rationalization of Spanish Schedules and full academician of the Royal European Academy of Doctors-Barcelona 1914 (RAED) published in the August 10 edition of the newspaper “La Vanguardia” the article “Puntualidad” (Punctuality), in which emphasizes the need to culturally assume a minimum rigor of schedules and noted the paradox that in Spain the delay in an appointment or at the start of any activity is still considered normal but they are met scrupulously the hours of services such as the AVE trains. “Punctuality should be an indispensable ethical requirement for all. No one has the right to make anyone wait, not in a public event, nor in a meeting, nor in an interview… We must be punctual and require others to be”, says the academician after giving as an example the 52-minute delay with which the hearing that King Felipe VI held with the president of the Spanish Government in office, Pedro Sánchez, began.
For Buqueras, punctuality should be a personal obligation as respect for others. “Punctuality expresses commitment and responsibility. Punctually everything works better both in the world of work and in the social world. Unpunctuality produces a comparison between those who are punctual and those who aren’t, which in many cases causes resentment”. And he calls the social non-acceptance of this bad habit as a forced way to give it a solution. “In Spain, unfortunately, unpunctuality is a socially accepted habit in some sectors of our society. We must end it. The phrase ‘we will wait ten minutes’, which the organizers of many acts pronounce, is a great lack of courtesy for the punctual ones. Always, giving priority to the unpunctual one. The same happens in many lunches of work and meetings”.
Dr. Ignacio Buqueras
“It’s a serious pending issue, which we must pass today better than tomorrow”, he says. In the search for a solution, he calls for an example on the part of social referents: “Leaders should take special care of punctuality. Their unpunctuality conveys a message of irresponsibility and lack of interest. On the other hand, if they are punctual, they are a good reference of ethics to follow, imitate and spread”.
“We have all the elements to overcome this situation. We know the radiography, and the methodology to eradicate it as well. In addition, we have more than important references. We are punctual in bullfights, we are in football matches… In high-speed trains our punctuality rate is 98.5%, the largest in Europe, and the second largest in the world after Japan. Iberia is one of the best airlines located in the world. We must be proud and manifest it, so that the unpunctual, which affects us all and our external image harms, be aware of their lack of civic spirit, and change their behavior. In addition, the unpunctual must learn to apologize. He must be aware that it’s a lack of education and respect, and a demonstration of his inability to organize his time and how little he cares about the other”, he concludes.
