I am fanatically on time or early. I am also very intolerant of people who are late. Once, OK, but after that it becomes clear to me that this is a habit and you are used to having people accomodate you.

So I don't accomodate them. Whatever it is, it begins at the appointed time. If you are an hour late, you will need to fish the leftovers out of the refrigerator and heat them in the microwave.

When I hold WEBEX meetings and someone is late, I start without them. When they come online (late) and ask questions we've already covered I tell them (with the whole group listening) that we've already covered that and to please contact me after the meeting - then I keep the meeting moving. Sorry if you're lost, next time show up on time like all the rest of us.

I'm kind of a jerk about this... :rolleyes:

angela

If you're NOT early,

You're late.

Don't you know how you do this. Seems impossible given the cross section of folks I deal with daily. Someone always wants 30 minutes in a 15 min slot, actually 2-3 per half day. In addition, someone is always sick (and waited for the appt to tell anyone) which means at least one more 30 min in 15 min slot. Watch out if I'm on call and a couple of cases come in during office hours. The later I get, the testier, but people just don't seem to get it, patients being on time or office staff getting folks in post haste.

As to parties, Vash's experience of 1hr late is much different than being a few minutes late, and size of party matters. Big party, especially one I don't want to spend a lot of time on, I'll come late and be able to bail early. Two couples only, we'll be on time. Business appts, I'm usually on time unless circumstances dictate otherwise. Some of you folks sound scary:eek:

A well trained office staff can do wonders for scheduling appropriately. I get thrown scheduling curve balls all the time. If I'm running late in the operating room my staff will reschedule all the appointments. I will not have a waiting room full of angry patients when I return. I don't need that stress. If I have a complicated visit like a new cancer diagnosis I will ask them to return during the noon hour or at the end of the day so we can spend more time together. They always appreciate it when I make time for them even if it means they need to make a second trip to the office.

So where do I find the time slots for all these rescheduled appointments? I book a two hour lunch break EVERY DAY. That leaves plenty of time to see daily emergencies and rescheduled patients.

I'm sure I could see more patients every day if I stacked them in my waiting room like cord wood. I couldn't stand to work like that.

I used to be within a minute of any appointment at a residence and did that for 40 years. Early at businesses. Any more, I could give a crap as long as I'm within 15 minutes.

When I was a consultant, I would prefer to be 1/2 hour early and hang in the parking lot than 5 minutes late. Now, I find I tell people I'll be there between 10 and 10:30 "depending on traffic" and they're cool with that; mostly because now THEY'RE the consultant, not me.

I am 99.9% on time or early. I learned that from my parents. Dinner was at 6:30 not 6:31.

I find that there are 2 main types of late people amongs those that are late...
1) Those that don't give a hoot
2) Those that can't budget time and/or have no concept of time

For instance, a type 1 late arrival would consist of a phone call slightly before the designated meeting time, with a mild mannered explanation and tone...i.e. "We're running late, see you in about 1/2 hour"

A type 2 late arrival would consist of no phone call, or a phone call after the designated meeting time...Usually a more apologetic tone, with a touch of frantic, along with a more detailed explanation is seen in this case...i.e. "Sorry I'm late, I've been running around all afternoon and I got stuck at the dmv, wal-mart, etc."


I find that you are better off with those in group #1 than in group #2. You can plan on group #1 running late all the time, and usually budget accordingly. Sometimes you can actually tell them an early meeting time, assuming that they will arrive late. Type #2, although they are occasionally on-time, will be unpredictable.

For personal stuff, I am almost never late. If I think I might be late, warning is given to the host as soon as I know.

Sometimes unexpected stuff happens. I was once late to a wedding in Highland Park a few years ago because a Ravinia concert was starting and traffic was backed up on the road I needed to take. Instead of taking 45 minutes (and I left an hour beforehand--giving myself an extra 15 minutes), it took an hour and a half.

For work, I am constantly late for meetings (and constantly leaving meetings early) because I constantly have back-to-back meetings scheduled in different buildings. It often takes me 15-30 minutes to physically get between meetings that are scheduled back-to-back. Once again, I try to let the host know and try to get them to reschedule, but sometimes I'm the least important person invited and I have to accomodate (and I'm the one that ends up looking bad).

It's not polite to be late.

We have family friends that are always late. We're not talking 15 - 20 minutes late either, we're measuring in hours. We finally solved the problem by telling them a time about an hour or two earlier than when everyone else was getting there. Has worked out pretty well so far.