MBurns

I am one of those persons who can proudly say he's never been late. I don't expect the same from everyone else, but being on time is a sign of respect. Simple courtesy would be to call, text, e-mail or tell someone that you might be late.

I've always wondered if I was too drastic about this. Maybe because I was raised by parents who were consistantly late. And not just by a few minutes? Maybe because the people I call friends repeatedly disrespect me by being late...again not just by a few minutes. My way to respond works kind of like baseball. I allow three strikes, the first two with verbal warnings that I am not pleased they havent even thought of telling me they would be late. The third one and the person's out. The reason why I want late people out of my life is because to me, free time is extremely important. EVERY SINGLY MILISECOND of my free time has to be worthwhile. And i'm not going to get started on the things I do to save time because some of you might die of laughter... :S

When you think about it, if you work 8 hours a day, sleep 8 hours a day, move back and forth from work 2 hours a day, do chores and necessary things like eating, taking a dump and whatnot 1 or 2 hours a day... You're left with 4 hours for you. Therefor, you actually really LIVE 16.6% of your life. Which I beleive is quite pathetic. And i'm not even taking into account studies for students or time you must spend raising your child in adulthood.

Obviously, when you live 16.6% of your life, you dont want to live any less. Some may think i'm drastic, some not. The thing is, nearly every person i've known has never cared to be on time for me. Not only did any of them ever say sorry or told me beforehand, but they arrived as if nothing happenned and that being 45 minutes + late didnt matter. I got rid of alot of people who I thought i'd have future friendly relations with and it saddens me.

Should I change my ways?

Your thoughts?

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MBurns

Xiahou Dun

It depends ENTIRELY on what they're late for and how late they are. Some things have bigger acceptable timeframes of lateness. I wouldn't mind someone being an hour or two late to come back from work and cook dinner before sitting down and watching tv, but if I was stood at an altar in a white dress (HAH! As if?) I would probably flay them alive for being 20 minutes late.

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shatterstar

punctuality or death!!

i'm never late. i hate people being late. but i accept it. no-one else is perfect.

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MBurns

Well to me the only thing that can make me change my mind is if someone has an excuse that proves he could not arrive on time nor tell me he would be late. For exemple, the guy has no cell phone and was stuck in traffic. Fine, I don't care. It can happen 4-5 times, then i'll just say "If you know there's going to be traffic, why don't you leave earlier?".

But if someone says "Oh I forgot it was at 10" even tho I told him and had him confirm he knew it was at 10. That's unacceptable.

I'll take your cooking exemple. I cook during spare/free time. If someone says "wait for me before cooking, i'll be there at 6!" and he/she is not there by 6:30, he/she wasted 30 + minutes of my spare time, didnt tell me he/she would be late and thus disrespected me.

There are acceptable and unacceptable time gaps. from 1 to 14 minutes, I can deal with it, anything over 15 clearly needs a reason.

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MBurns

Xiahou Dun

Well yeah in that case you're incredibly irate and anal about punctuality but not really to a fault just a lot more then most others. You don't need to feel pressured to change too much just so long as you're accepting when somebody provides a valid excuse for lateness.

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Phoenix

I'm with you on this one. I've been late before, sure, usually due to unavoidable circumstances (off the top of my head, having to call an ambulance to help an old man who had fallen over, getting a call about my mother being in hospital, etc), but I always call or text the people I'm meeting to say.

Even training sessions, that my lectures cut into, I always let the captain know in advance, even though nobody else does and it's seen as weird.

Being late is incredibly rude and shows severe lack of respect, unless there's a valid reason. "I forgot" and, "I don't have a reason", or my personal favourite, "Does it even matter that I'm late?" all piss me off to no end. I recall captaining a team, and havng to tell them that the trainings were 45 minutes earlier than they were, and that coaches left an hour before they did, to ensure they'd be there on time. It meant that 1 or 2 would be early (including me), but it was better that than have them late.

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MBurns

Coaches and teachers raise kids more than parents do in this generation (Not a scientific fact, just a personal opinion). So what you say is entirely true, except for one thing. You being the coach, you should teach those rtarded kids to be on time, because if they're not taught to be respectful, they're going to fail at life big time.

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MBurns

BaxVarlet

Tardiness =/= disrespect.

I think you're a little too harsh on this matter. You cut off ties with friends if they're late a mere 3 times? That's sad.

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Dave McKean

MBurns

The way I see it, I cut off ties with friends that don't respect me. If you're late once and I tell you "could you please try not to be late next time?" and you end up being late again and again, without any reason or notice, you're not worth my time.

On the other hand, if every time you're about to be late you make sure I know, then you can be late a million times and I won't care, because you'll show me you have respect.

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MBurns

BaxVarlet

I think you're taking tardiness to a whole new level. Sure, a little annoyance is expected when someone is unexpectedly late, but I never feel disrespected.

So if a grade school buddy is late a mere 5 mins, 3 times you'll never speak to him again?

If I'm running 5 minutes late, I don't feel the need to call the person I'm meeting, it's just not that big of a deal.

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Dave McKean