Confused about Time Zones

[Miss Fatale]

I teach online, so if students want to chat with me via phone or AIM, we always go through this.

I often get, "Call me at 1."

Um...It clearly says in my syllabus that I'm on Pacific time. Is that the time you want me to call you at? Or will you be mad because it's actually 4 and you're trying to get your kids from school?

Even worse is something like "Call me at 9." What time zone? AM or PM? I'm a night owl, so 9 PM would not be out of the question for me.

[Versalia]

My grandmother (who lived in North Carolina) did not like the idea of Daylight saving time when it was instituted. So she refused to acknowledge it. For the rest of her life, we had to always adjust ourselves to "her" time when visiting in the summer. It definitely made things interesting, to say the least.

She must have been a tough old broad. I love the idea of flat-out refusing to acknowledge it.

[Merriweather]

Here in Arizona, you can cross the street into another time zone. The State of AZ doesn't change times. No Daylight Savings. However, the native American reservations DO observe DL Savings and change the clocks. Can make for some interesting "So what time do you close/open?" scenarios.

My grandmother (who lived in North Carolina) did not like the idea of Daylight saving time when it was instituted. So she refused to acknowledge it. For the rest of her life, we had to always adjust ourselves to "her" time when visiting in the summer. It definitely made things interesting, to say the least.

[Mr Hero]

As bad of rep most MMOs get these days, I'd have to say that the quick ability to convert time zones is one of the positive sides. I'm on mountain time and in Colorado we observe daylight savings. Most of the announced times for endgame events are in eastern time. Plus, many quests will require that you wait until midnight Japan to finish. I know that time off the top of my head.

[Sheldonrs]

Here in Arizona, you can cross the street into another time zone. The State of AZ doesn't change times. No Daylight Savings. However, the native American reservations DO observe DL Savings and change the clocks. Can make for some interesting "So what time do you close/open?" scenarios.

[csquared]

Try scheduling a one hour computer system update for spring Daylight Savings time change.

It was first scheduled for 2:00 AM to 3:00 AM.

It was then changed to 3:00 AM to 4:00 AM, but that was rejected.

I finally convinced them to schedule it from 1:55 AM EST to 4:00 AM EDST.

I can imagine the mess if we had to include St. Cloud or Salt Lake.

[Crossbow]

that happens pretty much on an HOURLY schedule in our tech support department. Our customers are always getting the time change wrong (we're in the Eastern time zone, with clients all over North America and Europe).

Then again, my wife has been known to mess it up on occasion, so I can't give them too much grief.

[Versalia]

I was discussing doing an over-the-phone interview with a woman from the Eastern time zone (3 hours AHEAD of us, as we are Pacific).

Me: (Left in a voicemail) So, do you think 4:00 pm pacific would work? I could get them to start it a bit earlier or later if needed, by about 30 minutes either way.

Woman: (Returned voicemail) Oh, so like, 1:00 our time? That's perfect.

WHAT. Normally I phrase it in terms of THEIR time zone precisely so this doesn't happen, but it was back and forth via voicemails, and I wasn't sure of her time zone until after she got back to me. I am shocked at how many people do not understand how to properly adjust their time zones! We always, always, always give it to people in their time zone's terms because they will mess it up EVERY TIME if we tell them what the Pacific equivalent is. In their minds, "1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern" translates to "I heard someone say 1pm. So I'm scheduled for 1pm. (Eastern)"