Bryght and Early

I needed to set-up a call with the guys from Bryght, a Web 2.0 company that is building some great content management solutions with Drupal. Now, Bryght is based in Vancouver and I'm based in (you guessed it), Qatar. After co-ordinating our schedules, I suggested that we setup the conference call at 4pm Qatar time. Now this is where it gets interesting. I didn't think much of it - I thought that Bryght was in Canada and that they were probably in the same timezone as New York - meaning it would be around 9am. Well, the night before the call I got a mail from Kris to confirm the time of the call:

"Just wanted to confirm that you're meeting with Boris Mann and I via phone tommorow at 4pm your time (7am our time)."

My first thought when seeing this was "ouch". I didn't realise that it was going to be that early. But at this point it was too late to change it and I figured that this was a good indication of the commitment to customer service by the lads at Bryght.

So, Tuesday 4pm I dial Bryght but I get the answering machine. I figure maybe they are still getting into the office. I call back 10 minutes later and still nothing. I try again at 4:30pm and still nothing. So, I start packing up (the reason I set up the meeting for 4pm was so I could be home before 5pm to break my fast) and then it dawns on me - did I muddle up my timezones? I pop out my PalmOne Treo 650, load up World Clock and add Vancouver to my city list - it still isn't 7am in Vancouver! I pull up the old e-mail and there it is:

"How does Thursday 4pm (GMT+2) sound?"

Qatar is GMT+3 (not GMT+2). In my defense, I've lived in GMT+2 for about 25 years and GMT+3 for just about one.

So I make a quick decision - I rush home (making it home to break fast), grab a plate, load up my favourite Voice over IP (VoIP) client (not mentioned here since I don't think the local telecom is too keen on VoIP - monopoly and all that) and dial Bryght while nibbling on supper hoping that they don't notice (the nibbling or the VoIP).

What does this all mean? Well, for starters I'm going to have to stop laughing at the CNN Richard Quest promo's where he is "Do you ever wake up in New York? Have lunch in London? And supper in Tokyo? CNN Business Traveller is for you."

P.S. Kris just in case I forget again, Qatar is GMT+3 :)