We recently moved -offices from Canary Wharf to Blackfriars bridge. When you move after a long time in one place, you notice the surprising ways in which your behaviour is subliminally affected by your surroundings.
On my second day in the new office, someone came from Victoria to meet me. After about 25 minutes of useful conversation, I thanked them and they left. Something about the encounter seemed strange; I suddenly realised that, back in the old office, I’d never had such brief meetings. Instinctively it felt discourteous to give anyone who had made the longer trip to Canary Wharf any less than 45 minutes of your time.
This sense of obligation was unconscious. In some ways, something similar seems to apply to phone calls. If someone telephones from the US, you would feel rude not chatting for 15 minutes; with a call from a few miles away you can make do with a minute or two.
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