Travels With Chaley Day 4

As I continue to read Steinbeck I notice that he is very in tune with his surroundings.  He is conscious of what is happening around him and how things happen around him.  He compensates for how the native people live their lives and on their schedule.  He wakes up early in the mornings now just so he can go to diners to get breakfast with a bunch of men who barely acknowledge him.  I feel like in American society today we have little to no regard for how other people live.  It has become socially acceptable to be late.  Punctuality used to mean something.  What happened?