LAST is an acronym for
Latino American Standard Time. There are essentially three guiding principles behind LAST.
1.) To be “on time” means one can show up at any point up to 1 hour after the agreed upon time.
2.) If one arrives between 1 hour up to 2 hours after, it’s “cutting it close”.
3.) Lastly, if one arrives anytime after 2 hours they are officially “late”, and any time before the agreed upon time qualifies them as a “lunatic” (or any other variant of this word).
e.g.) If the agreed upon time is
12:00 pm: one arrives “on time” between 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm, “cutting it close” would be between 1:00 pm and 2:00 pm, arriving any time after 2:00 pm is “late”, and arriving any time before 12:00 pm makes one a “lunatic”.
(Boss:) I’ve noticed that you’ve been coming in way past an hour late to work every day consistently for the last few weeks.
(
Fulano:) Sorry, I’m not sure
I understand what you’re talking about.
(Boss:) Do you not see everybody else working? Work started over an hour ago! You just show up, equipped with your Starbucks, over an hour late as if you don’t have a job to do?!
(Fulano:) Surely not! I would never show up late!
(Boss:) So even though work started over an hour ago you’re not late?
(Fulano:) Ohhhh, I think I understand the problem now. I’ve been in LAST for about two or three weeks.
(Boss:) Oh, that makes a lot of sense now! Sorry for getting upset, you know how passionate I am about my job as your boss.
(Fulano:) It’s completely okay,
apology accepted. I’m glad we could move past our differences.
(Boss:) Me too, thank you for keeping my ego
in check.
(Fulano:)
My pleasure.