Maybe I'm OCD but I really hate starting work with the expectation of soon being interrupted.

I'm the same way. It's not really meaningful work but just whatever you can do to pass the time. My mind doesn't context switch that greatly so when I'm in "Let's slow down and talk this out" mode, I'm absolutely not in "Leave me alone I have to solve world hunger" mode. They're typically mutually exclusive.

Ok fine, don't do work, maybe read the paper or do the other boring things you plan on doing every day?

Sketch out a new idea perhaps? Daydream? Read the paper? Or your favorite blog? It's not "wasted time".

All I am saying is it's not the end of the world that somebody is "late". And that having free time isn't a burden if you know what to do with it.

Why anything that comes to your mind to do in that situation has to be "work"?

Because in America, publicly enjoying unplanned leisure is taboo.

I've been living in America (East Coast, Bay Area) for the last 54 years, and I don't recognize the America described in about half of the HN comments I've seen recently (including this comment).

That's not something you could perceive by looking at the general public.

That's something you can learn by being involved in the north american corporate workforce.

When I took my very first job at mcdonalds I was told "If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean."

That work ethic is very prominent in american culture.

If you're not working, you're not achieving your full potential. And that needs to stop.

When you put it that way, I guess I agree.