I stumbled across this article recently and I couldn’t agree more!
Baring an emergency, the only time I will happily accept lateness is when TTC and AF hasn’t made an appearance, and if she was simply late for no reason I will be pissed! Seriously though, it drives me crazy that people just don’t seem to care. Someone I work with actually leaves his house at the time a meeting is supposed to begin in the office… and no, I am not exaggerating! I have always been punctual; this is the way I was brought up and I don’t think that it is too much to expect from others.
As always, I have edited for length. The full post first appeared on The Savage Truth.
… I don't care if I sound old-fashioned, because actually it's nothing to do with 'fashion' or 'generation'. It's got everything to do with basic good manners and respect for other people.
So here goes... How did it get to be "OK" for people to be late for everything?
Because as far as I am concerned, it's not OK.
In recent years it seems that a meeting set to start at 9 am, for some people means in the general vicinity of any time which starts with the numeral '9'. Like 9.30 for example.
People drift in at 9.10 or 9.20, or even later. And they smile warmly at the waiting group, as they unwrap their bacon sandwich, apparently totally unconcerned that others have been there since five to nine, prepared and ready to start...
And an arrangement to meet someone for a business meeting at a coffee shop at 3 pm, more often than not means at 3.10 you get a text saying 'I am five minutes away' which inevitably means 10 minutes, and so you wait for 15 or 20 minutes, kicking your heels in frustration…
And it's not only business.
Why do people, invited for a dinner party at 7.30, think it's cool to arrive at 8.30? It's rude. It's inconsiderate. And it's selfish… Three "ladies who lunch"… were chatting loudly at the table next to me. One inquired what time the 'drinks do' was that night. The reply for all the world to hear was 'Oh 7.30, but we won't get there till 9 because by then it will have warmed up and all the interesting people will have arrived'. Nice. Imagine if everyone took that view. Cocktail parties would start at 3 am eventually.
Or a dinner at a restaurant where I was meeting two other couples. My wife was away, so I was flying solo. I arrived at two minutes to eight for an eight o'clock booking. At 8.20, I was into my second glass of Pinot and at half-past I got a text saying 'on the way'. We finally were all seated at 8.45. There were not even attempted excuses from either of the two couples, who seemed oblivious to the fact I might actually have got there at the agreed time. Meanwhile I had put a huge dent in the bottle of Pinot, and was ready to go home.
And it is not that we lead 'busy lives'. That's a given, we all do, and it's a cop out to use that as an excuse. It's simply that some people no longer even pretend that they think your time is as important as theirs. And technology makes it worse. It seems texting or emailing that you are late somehow means you are no longer late.
Rubbish.
You are rude. And inconsiderate...
Me? Am I ever late? Sure, sometimes. That's inevitable even with the best intentions. But I never plan to be late. I never 'let time slide' because my stuff is more important than yours.
I am not talking about the odd occasion of lateness. I am talking about people who are routinely late. In fact, never on time. You know who I am talking about!...
