title: Reading a string column in xlsx with date and time values
body: <p>I am reading a .xlsx file using R. One of the columns is called "Date" and it has the following format: "20/10/2014  12:00:00 am".</p>
  
  <p>However, when I read the file using R's <code>xlsx</code> package, the value becomes 41932-- class <code>factor</code>. How can I read the entire column as a string (as is)? I want to be the one to convert the date/time values into <code>POSIXlt</code> and/or <code>POSIXct</code> classes.  </p>