People who are always late

[Arrian]

People who are consistently late suck. The End.

-Arrian

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Pekka
Well, I do have work. But the priority of that meeting was high, so I skipped that time from work. Like I said, I could have been working all that time. So he stole my time.

Most times if I am meeting one or two people, I have them meet me in MY office. I will have prepared ahead of time and be working on other stuff that I can put aside for the meeting.. NO time wasted.

IF I meet outside my office, I always bring something I can work on. Even if I don't use it I can always use my blackberry to answer emails or take a few calls.


Thios doesn't excuse lateness and I would NEVER wait 90 minutes-- 10 would be a big push. BUt then again I find that more people need stuff from me than the reverse.

The biggest time waster is the unnecessary meeting. I can do other stuff if someone is a few minutes late. But politeness dictates that you at leat pay attention during a meeting.


Although . . . I killed a meeting yesterday in less than 10 minutes. The meeting organizer raised a "serious deficiency" in an old agreement that would be a "big issue" and there were 5 people at the meeting . She spoke for 2-3 minutes before I interupted " Excuse me etc etc but isn't it true that Fact situation A exists?" YES?? Then Schedule C applies not B... everything is covered there. " I nodded to the big boss in the room who agreed and the meeting adjourned .

I think the meeting organizer was a little embarrased. She is actually a graduate of law school and has applied constantly for lawyer jobs in our company but never gets them and instead is a contract analyst ( a much lower position). My problem was that I knew that she was dead wrong on her issue. I could let the meeting go 5 minutes or two hours but eventually someone would have to say it. I had actually phoned her 30 minutes before the meeting to try to give her a heads up but she never got back to me. I was polite and sugarcoated it a bit but ultimately the meeting was a complete waste of time-- well not completely-- I think I impressed the big boss in the room with my grasp of the issues and did take 5 minutes to discuss another issue with him-- so it was all good

[Az]

I am often late, because I often have to rely on public transport to go to places where I never was before. and then I get late, because the web timetable is completely unreliable ( we're talking offsets that sometimes reach an hour or so for tens of kms of travel)
I always call if people are waiting for me. Unless it's people who get preachy while knowing my conditions, even if I call and warn them beforehand. I never call those.

[C0ckney]

my friends have resorted to giving me a meeting time 30 minutes earlier than everyone else.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Arrian
People who are consistently late suck. The End.

-Arrian

QFT

[Japher]

My inlwas are that way, and it drives me nuts.

They were once 1.5 hours late for a dinner with my wife and I because they didn't feel like stopping what they were doing (washing windows) to make the appointment on time.

Another time, they sent out invites for a familly reunion for 1:30pm, at a site that was 3 hours out of town for us on a Sunday. They begged us to show up, we told them we could come, but we had to leave by 5pm because we had to work the next day. We get there, and the only person there is her dad who seems shocked to see us. he tells us no one really shows up until 5:30pm.. Punk.

[Solly]

Punctuality is such a virtue. With mates I know that are usually late, I just give them a time 20 minutes earlier

But yeah I agree, lateness is very rude.

[DrSpike]

The most difficult etiquette I find is for meetings of 4+ people, around the question of whether or not to turn up exactly on time or 5/10 minutes late.

I used to turn up on time, and then get irritated if we had to wait for so and so before we start. I'm not talking obvious rudeness on the scale of Pekka's workmate - just 5 or 10 mins or so, which can always be explained away.

Sometimes it's even worse when a firm organiser starts on time and then you have to stop to bring so and so up to speed when they get in. IF YOU NEEDED TO KNOW WHY WEREN'T YOU HERE DAMMIT!

So I started to drift towards being 5 mins late on purpose for bigger meetings. But then you run the risk of being so and so!

You always face tough choices in life, and few tougher than this.

[Nikolai]

I've read that people got a complete change in behaviour on this issue after cell phones and sms got into our lives. Before you had to be on time, now you can just send an sms or do a quick call.

[b etor]

What if it's their mother's fault that someone is late? That always happens to me and I hate it. I hate being late.

[Pekka]

The reason doesn't matter. There needs to be a.. message sent that the person will be late.

If you're having a business sort of meeting, I don't think 'my mom' is to blame.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Nikolai
I've read that people got a complete change in behaviour on this issue after cell phones and sms got into our lives. Before you had to be on time, now you can just send an sms or do a quick call.

I find that email and cell phones reduces the need for a lot of meetings. You can canvass opinions without needing to bein the same place.

But they are really handy if you have to be late. I encountered a car accident that blocked the only good route into work and delayed traffic. A 30 minute commute became 90 with the result that I would be 30 late for a meeting. But I emailed and phoned about 20 minutes in advance.Sometimes crap happens and there is nothing you can do.

[b etor]

Originally posted by Pekka
The reason doesn't matter. There needs to be a.. message sent that the person will be late.

If you're having a business sort of meeting, I don't think 'my mom' is to blame.

I have no other way of getting there. My dad is usually at work.

[Pekka]

b etor, so you do business meetings?

[Dauphin]

As FBI director, meetings with the Pres are fairly common. Couple a times I am sure Bushie used his 'mom was reason for being late' excuse too.