No Fortitude For Longitude, Part 18

The restaurant where I worked was in a popular college town. Every January, we would start taking early reservations for graduation week in the spring. We always deferred these reservations to our owner, as the grads’ parents could be very demanding and pushy. We were told to simply give them her email address.

One year, our boss was unfortunately out of the country due to a family emergency. This meant that we were constantly getting phone calls about unanswered emails regarding grad reservations. Most people understood that, due to the time difference, their email may not be answered for a few hours or days. This one call, however, still baffles me to this day. 

Caller: “Hi, I wrote an email to the owner about fifteen minutes ago regarding a grad reservation and I still haven’t gotten a reply back.”

Coworker: “Yes, ma’am. Unfortunately, the owner is out of the country due to a family emergency. And because of the seven-hour time difference, she may not be able to answer those emails right away. It usually takes a few hours to a few days, anyway.”

Caller: “But I’m in California, so my email is already three hours behind! So she’s not going to get my email for ten hours?!”

Coworker: “…”

Related:
No Fortitude For Longitude, Part 17
No Fortitude For Longitude, Part 16
No Fortitude For Longitude, Part 15
No Fortitude For Longitude, Part 14
No Fortitude For Longitude, Part 13