April 18, 2008
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ON TIME
People
tend to have a problem now days being on time. It is something that
really bothers me. If you say you will be at my house at 5pm. Then be
at my house at 5pm. When a person says they will be there are 5pm but
do not show up until 5:15pm or 5:30pm or even worse 6 or 7pm then
they are lying. They are also stealing an other person’s time as that
person is waiting for them. It is very bad manners.I,
for one hate it when people are not punctual and keep me waiting for
hours.When
you are late for appointments, meetings or work itself, you show a
lack of respect for other people’s time as well as your own.Being
late in paying bills can be costly and being late socially can strain
relationships.In
many cases lateness is caused by a lack of commitment to arrive on
time. Meaning lack of respect for the other person.Plan
to arrive 10 minutes early and always leave plenty of time for
traveling time.Let
me tell you a story about a thing that happened to me. That is a
perfect example. My husband and the children and I were planning to
go with P for a tree for his house. J was also planning to go along
with her children. P was to stop by her house and then be at our
house around 9am.Well,
p showed up at J’s house and talked to her husband as she wasn’t
there. She had went to get one of her children from the neighbors
house where she had slept over.9am
came and I got my children in their coats so they would be ready to
go when P and J showed up. 9:30 came and we were sweating in our
coats and they hadn’t shown up. 9:45 came and I was really really
mad. I finally called J’s house to find out what was going on. It
turns out that J still wasn’t home from the
neighbors house. J showed no respect for our families time or for P’s
time. We didn’t finally leave our house until 10:30, one hour and a
half after the originally planned time.IT
showed totally lack of respect for me, my plans and my time.Being
punctual is a part of showing courtesy which, according to
1Crotinthians 13, is a part of love.Lack
of promptness and punctuality is really stealing. It is stealing the
other person’s time. It is also lying, for it is a failure to keep
promises.
Napoleon
was always ahead of time. He said, “Every moment lost is an
opportunity for misfortune.”Lord
Nelson, the English admiral, said that his success was largely
attributed to the fact that he was always on time. He said he gave
himself a quarter of an hour extra time. This allowed for accidents.Matthew’s
said that men who are habitually behind time are habitually behind
success.Napoleon
said he beat the Austrians because they did not know the value of
five minutes.
Comments (12)
Oh I totally agree! I can’t stand when people aren’t on time, it is one of my biggest pet peeves!!! I am always on time…and by on time I mean 15 minutes early lOl.
I have a dear friend that I have known for over 20 years and she has been very late all our lives. When I was in high school she forgot to pick me up when I was stranded. I drove to her house and found her sleeping in her bed and her explanation was that she couldn’t wake up! Let’s just say in the midst of my crying and yelling at her I smacked her a few times with a pillow. We laugh about it now but I was really mad at her. Now I never expect anything less then for her to be late or not show up at all so I never count her into anything.
I have always hated when people came late because as you say it disrespects your time that you have now lost because of that person being late. On the rare occasion that I am late because of traffic and such I always call promptly so not to keep the person waiting unnecessarily.
My brother-in-law is habitually late. He always arrives at church just as it’s starting. We’ve learned to tell him dinner will be served at 12:00 when we’re really planning it for 1:00. That way we don’t have to wait as long for him.
I hate being late. I do think it is a total lack of respect.
oh thank you!!!!!I’ve noticed that more and more too!!!!Peoplse seem to have no respect for other people’s time!!!another problem i have is when my mil comes to pick up the boys and she says i’ll be there between 2-5 .she doesnt take into considerations we might be doing something.i’m also always one of the first people to the homecoming meeting and stuff.My kids have the saying homeschoolers are always late.great post
This was a good post for me to read.
I’m a “running late” morning person. I don’t function well and arrive 3 – 5 minutes late almost always. By 10am, I do much better. I’m not lazy, just dysfunctional early in the day. I try to always make afternoon appointments and usually arrive at those 10 minutes early.
I can’t imagine being more than 10 minutes late without calling to let someone KNOW. I see that important phone call as a courtesy to the people waiting.
I have a few people (like Juahn) that I ask to arrive significantly earlier than needed, to be sure they don’t run ME late. The worst is when I invite guests for dinner at 6pm and ask them to arrive at 5:30. When they don’t show up until 6:30 it ruins the food and it’s hard for me to smile and be sociable. My grandma told me a story about someone who invited guests to a formal dinner party and specified the expected time of arrival and the time she would be serving dinner. A couple arrived late to find the dinner party in the middle of their meal. The hostess just told them to hang up their coats and join the other guests at the table and let them eat cold food. I don’t have enough courage to do THAT!!!
there of course is another side to this. The people that are always early. My mom always leaves with a lot of time to spare and it leaves me standing around doing nothing and waiting for things to begin. That is time that I could have spent uploading books on to the websites I sell through or half a dozen other things. It also is just as rude as being late, if you arrive 15-20 minutes early as now the host as to stop getting everything ready to entertain you. I say we shouldn’t be more then 5 minutes early. no more then ten minutes for sure.
I am sooooo not a morning person, I am trying to get up and around and be on time… but in the mornings it is hard!!
Yes, it is very frustrating when people can’t be on time. I personally don’t care if it’s like five minutes or something small, but there have been times when people have been thirty minutes to an hour late, and yes, it’s quite frustrating. My high school band teacher locked the doors when class started in the morning (8:00), and anyone who was late had to have a note from an adult explaining why they were late or else they got points taken off.
God Bless,
Chris
I have always thought it was rude and disrespectful to be late to anything… but lately I’ve been late to my first hour class. I think this is an important reminder to respect other people and do unto them as I would have them do unto me. Thank you for sharing! God Bless
I like to be…on time. And often run a few minutes late. No, not 1/2 hour or worse. I really hate to be so early that I fiddle around 10-15 minutes with nothing to do. And thinking of how I could have done so ‘n so before I left the house. Around here, people are habitually on the late side. Maybe it’s because we live in the south. LOL There again, I think it’s more family related. In my family, if we said we will leave by a certain time, we left around then. Some of my husband’s family, it can go an hour or more over. Then the people waiting feel they are wasting time. It does take some forbearance at times. But your situation, the person running late should def. have called the waiting parties.
I used to really struggle with being late, and I came to realize, as you have stated, that it is really rude and a waster of my time and anyone else’s that I am going with.
I have to say, we are typically on time now, and it is much less stressful.