Everyone has them. Those habits of other people that drive up the freaking walls; make you want to tear your hair out and yell "what the hell?" Ok, mine is timeliness. I cannot stand tardiness. I myself cannot stand being late for anything. I don't even like being fashionably late. I feel that a set time is when you should be there and you shouldn't disrespect the other party(ies) by being late. It's very rude.
I use to work with this girl, HB, who just did not know how to be on time. Her commute to work was short like mine. But she was habitually late. Like every day. When you back up someone for phone support, this gets old real fast. The little group of "early risers" used to stand around the coffee pot and take bets on how late she would be, if she would show at all (she was also sick a lot). I just didn't get it. After you figured out you were 5-10 minutes late everyday, wouldn't you set your alarm that much earlier? I find this type of behavior disrespectful not only to the employer, but to the other co-workers in the office that have to work a little bit harder just to make up for your 5 minutes of laziness. Do you know how many minutes of the year that adds up to? Do the math, it's a lot.
You may wonder, what's bringing on this little rant. In one word, the Outlaws (see previous post). They stopped by on Saturday and we decided to meet up on Sunday for dinner. No concrete plans made, just a vague dinner some time Sunday evening. My outlaws do not have phone service at the new house. They are too cheap to get one just for the summer. Their cell phones also do not get service seeing as how close to Lake Michigan they are. So there is no way for us to call them to make these plans. So we wait for the phone call from them to firm up the plans. Mom-outlaw calls at 3:30 and we decide we will go out for dinner (it was just way to friggin' hot to cook). They would meet us at our house at 5:30.
So 5:30 rolls around and they aren't there. Ok. I can tolerate a little late. 5:45, they still aren't there. 6:00...okay this is a little rude. 6:25. APPROACHING ONE HOUR. CAN YOU PEOPLE NOT READ YOUR WATCHES???!!!! At this point, I'm hungry, my hubby is hungry. Every minute that passes I become more and more unpleasant to be around. We decide that if they aren't there at 6:30 we'll leave them a note and go. As we are writing the note and hunting for the every allusive tape, they pull in the driveway. No story, no excuses, no apologies. 1 hour and 32 minutes late, I at least want to hear a good story as to why you are late. If you don't have one, make one up, be creative...It will at least kill the void of the uncomfortable silence because Hubby and I are too pissed to talk.
So when is being late, too late?
6 comments:
missjackie,
they sound the same because they are the same person....i guess some habits never change.
I work in a profession where it is imperative that I arrive on time. Normally, I am not an arrive-on-time person. I would always be late to class, appointments, or late to dinner dates (usually only about 30mins or so). This darn job has made me an on-time person though! With the amount of write-ups I've had in 6 years, negative reinforcement really does work. Now I find that I've turned into one of those people who despise tardiness in others. What a hypocrit I am.
The behavior of the outlaws was RUDE. I can not telrate having to wait when hungry. It's a scary thing. I attribute my chronic tardiness of 5 minutes to being a commuting optimist. I always think that miraculously, the road will be free of traffic and all stoplights will be green.
And she still has a job?
It seems like the next gift you give them, whether it be for a birthday or Christmas, should be a watch!
And what's most annoying is hearing the lame excuses on why they're always late! Urghh, being chronically late is a passive agressive way of somebody saying "I don't respect you enough to show up when I say I'm gonna show up", it is worst than rude, it is Hostile!
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