Many Georgians might need to adjust their alarm clocks. In a bold initiative for very much a night-owl nation, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili has requested public officials to wake up an hour earlier to show up at work at 9 in the morning "like the rest of the world."
Georgia's boss can bet many of his employees, from ministers down to janitors, are mentally cursing him now. The Georgian government starts work at 10 am, more or less, and gets off at 6 or 7 pm. Yet every agency seems always to have at least one employee, who stays on, burning the midnight oil, and doing all the work.
Parliament often fills up late, but, nevertheless, some representatives still grab a power-nap in the middle of the session as exciting new laws are presented.
That perhaps explains why some tend to favor interviews with reporters closer to midnight.
Outside the public sector, the picture is similar. Banks, shops, clinics and so forth also open (and stay open) late. In short, it is not a morning-country.
But since Georgia is enthusiastic to join the Western world, via NATO and EU membership, it might need to adjust its clocks, too. "We must begin working at an earlier time. Ten in the morning is just too late," the prime minister told an early-morning cabinet meeting on August 1.
The ministers nodded. And didn’t yawn.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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