Late
Maybe it’s my genetic ethic, or conscientious parents and their rearing techniques, or maybe the threat of being beaten by nuns, but I have always been on time. Let me restate that, I am always at least 20 minutes early if left to my own devices.
On the other hand I live in a word that is perpetually 20 minutes late. My wife is getting better, though. She has whittled it down being five minutes past the time I want to leave for anything. This is progress because she used to be a half hour late.
There are people I know that you can set a watch by in regards to their lateness. Last weekend I was teamed up with a consistently late person to do some volunteer work. I was at our meeting place twenty minutes early and she was her usual 20 minutes late. That meant there was a 40 minute void between our arrival times. Had I trusted my instincts I would have been able to squeeze in a good 40 minute nap. I need to resign to the fact that certain people will always be late and that’s OK; just as long as I can count on that not changing. I’d hate to be woken up by a late person that finally made it on time.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:00 AM
15 Comments:
Cliff and I, thank goodness, run on the same clock in this respect: We can't STAND to be late! And we can't abide people who are always late.
Dear Hubby and I are like Donna and Cliff...we're never late and those who are drive us NUTS! We have a very, very dear friend who must've been late at his own birth and if anyone we know is late for something Dear Hubby or I will say, "They must be running on Hearn Time". Our "Hearn" friend has never been on time for anything. Ever.
Even when I make a conscious, concerted effort to be late (or, at least, not early) I don't succeed. I have resigned myself to being an "on-time" person - waiting for the others to show up.
I used to tell the kids:
If you're early, you're ontime;
if you're ontime, you're late;
if you're late - don't bother. :)
Yes... I am an early person. I almost always have a book and a snack with me - for just such occasions.
My wife on the other hand is never ontime. It took me several years to figure out the reason she is persistently late is because she is so wonderfully in the moment at all times.
I have always preferred to be early and aim for early to work everyday. I used to live with someone who was perpetually late and sometimes think people do that on purpose too.
I wonder about this at times. The wife and I are always early. And we fuss if someone is late, even tho we always know that it's going to happen. An obsession with being early seems to be in correlation with the number of clocks in your possession. Every room in our house with the exception of the bathrooms, has a clock on the wall. When I retire, I'm throwing out the clocks. Expect me when you see me.
I'm always early, as well. Though it ranges from 15 minutes down to only 5.
My way to deal with "late" people is to start whatever appointment we had without them. For instance, if we're supposed to meet at 5pm for dinner ... I'll order at 5pm without them. Nor do I feel guilt if I receive my meal, finish it, and leave before they finally show up.
A couple times, I've gotten up in the middle of them talking, said something along the lines of "Well, it was nice talking to you" and left. Hey, if they would have been on time, they could have finished whatever they were talking about.
I like to be early...if not "on time". Sometimes I run late (no telling when the cows will get out...or other unexpected/unavoidable crap that happens on a farm), but I call that person to let them know I'll be late. I usually gauge my arrival time on THEIR past arrival times. I have friends who are "typically" late...so that is how much extra time I give myself to show up. Why waste MY time waiting for them? There's plenty I can be doing at home w/o having to worry about meeting someone who is notoriously late. I also tell them that I'll call them when I'm leaving my house...that should give them at least an hour to finish up what they are doing before they have to meet up w/me :)
I'm always on time if not early.
Yes, it was the nuns.
late: immaculate connception or the vacectomy didn't work.
loopymama
Donna, Kris and Beth, you were all on time with your comments. If I see you haven't commented by 7:30 my time I worry that something has happened to you.
Weese, your wife is an artist. You saw what Dali did to his pocket watch, didn't you?
Auntie, and you are an artist, I'd expect you to be late. You are always at the coffee shop before me.
Darev, I like making my own clocks or at least altering the ones I have. I have two in my bathroom. One which rarely works and the other that falls 15 minutes behind and stays there. I can correct it, but it will be 15 minutes behind tomorrow. Pretty strange.
Dang Walt, that's harsh, funny but harsh. Do you ever get a second date? LOL! Interesting also that you have an avitar that is related to Time Lords.
Ginger you work on a sliding time scale.
g, isn't it odd how those nuns are still with us after all these years, like harpies.
Loopy are you expecting?
Bathroom time is different. Like time spent fishing, quality tome in the bathroom should not be counted towards ones time on earth.
Sorry I'm late getting to this comment. I run on my own time. I refer to people who are habitually on time as anal retentive. Life is too short for stressing out over punctuality. When people show up early at my place I make them wait until the appointed time before letting them in.
flex time at work means that i'm never late, but usually early! i used to be very bad at being on-time. the best i could do was right on the dot, but early? fuggedaboudit. used to drive my ex insane (he was always early). and then he started telling me that we had to be someplace half-hour earlier than we actually had to be, and we were never late again!
brills.
my mother is the worst for this. it makes my father absolutely mental.
I'm going to be really late in replying to any further comments on this post.
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