“Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.”
-William Shakespeare
-William Shakespeare
I never understood why it always tweaked my annoyance when someone was late. Obviously, there’s a lot of leeway given to people I don’t know very well, because people are entitled to their own lifestyles and I have no right to judge whether or not they value punctuality.
However, I’m talking about people who are supposedly “good friends” that are chronically late. Time after time, they stretch boundaries until I’m left with an assortment of excuses for the same habit. “I had to finish something”. “There was traffic”. “Something came up”. “I lost track of time”. Sure these are all reasonable excuses, but not when they’re used EVERY single time a meeting is arranged.
To some degree, it may be selfish to expect those around me to value punctuality as much as I do. I totally understand that freak circumstances can prevent people from being on time. On second thought, IS it that unreasonable to expect such a seemingly-simple thing from those you care about?:
“But the excuses only work a few times – and then the raw truth sets in. People learn not to take you seriously because, frankly, they feel that you don’t take them seriously. If you did, you would be there on time. People can see through the excuses, especially if these excuses are part of a repetitive pattern, and they resent being misled. Chronic tardiness affects not only the way others see you, but also the way in which see yourself. It compromises your integrity.”
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(quoted excerpt from http://www.drfibus.com/punctuality-article.html ). That article has some other interesting bits on punctuality in the context of North American culture)
(excerpt from old blog):
Posted by: closer
Date: Thursday, 2009-02-05, 7:12 Am
Being punctual only matters in terms of business, time=money, because people are judging EVERYTHING that you do.
With friends, if I already accepted them as a friend, why would i go change who they are?? And why would I want to combine the two worlds anyways?? Like the great George Louis Costanza said, “Worlds collide!!” Let the worlds be seperate and you will find inner peace…
If they are late, they are late, regardless of all their excuses.
Im just happy to be with them
(excerpt from old blog):
Posted by: rombusempire
Date: Monday, 2009-02-09, 8:11 Am
“I was late so sorry, there was a construction site at the road and no way out.” Cool, glad you made it! But if that person makes some excuse everytime, then no.
It’s also ok if you call ahead of time to say you’ll be late.
I remmeebr I was late one time meeting up with you…I THINK I was late thattime….I was on my way to Womens College and decided totake a short cut, thinkign it would work. But no. I ended up detouring and asking aussies for direction = talking to walls. So I was late.
But I think fundamentlaly, that we dont like ppl being late is because it violates an agreement, a trust if you will. “Ill do this (be there by 7pm)” but they break their word. It’s simialr to “ok ill write letter for you” then dont do it.
(excerpt from old blog):
Posted by: takezomiyamoto
Date: Tuesday, 2009-02-03, 12:56 Pm
punctuality is of the utmost importance in my opinion. one reason is the one you gave, another is that i don’t like to make people wait as i feel it is inconsiderate to so and in terms of work, it is unprofessional and shows poor time management. then again, that’s just me.
did you get to see the the revenge of the fallen trailer in the superbowl?
(excerpt from old blog)
Posted by: fansu
Date: Monday, 2009-02-09, 9:56 Pm
I think you can tell when someone is truly sorry about their lateness and I would be able to forgive them for as they are my friends.
I personally do feel that if my friend is constantly late and doesn’t show an effort of trying not to be late that I will feel that they do not take me seriously and don’t think that my time and their time is important.
I don’t think it matters if it’s for a business or casual meeting being punctual is just like being polite, but of course for business there you can loose your job and for your friends maybe your friendship.
(excerpt from old blog)
Posted by: nell
Date: Monday, 2009-03-09, 9:00 Am
“sorry i’m late.”
The sentence rings true for me in many instances. Although, more recently, I am swinging towards a greater distain for that attitude. With the invention of the cell phone and other instant messaging and crack berry techology, the communication avenues are all open for more excuses in shorter and smaller notice times. I haven’t realized that I had such a poor perception of time and it’s management. Considering time is a very valuable thing for me, I must also respect that others people’s time may be guarded aswell. Once I’ve heard the echo of my poor attitude ring in my ears in people that have come to valuemy opinion, it reinforces that I must change my way of thinking. So, there is it. The confessions of a chronic-late-aholic. Never too late, in this case (HAHA no pun intended), to learn about the value of punctuation, err. i mean punctuality. Be on time, period. lol
Respect to article author, some superb selective information.
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