The chronically late have their reasons, but the price can be high

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | November 18, 2003 | KRISTIN DIZON

[lovecraft]

I've been called many things....

but "LATE" has never been one of them...:-)

[dakine]

Exactly, selfishness.. people thinking their time is more valuable then your own..

[mewzilla]

And the chronically late seem to think calling on their cell phones to let you know they're going to be late, again, makes it all fine and dandy. That if they called, then they can't be late. Nice attitide, huh?

[Maigrey]

This sounds like a production of rationalization on why it's fine to be late.

I had a coach in high school, who made it quite evident for punctuality to practice.

If you were a minute late (and this is on the floor, ready for practice) you had a mile timed run after practice.
If you were 2 minutes late, 2 miles timed.

Anything later than 2 minutes, you had 5 miles, timed, and had to be completed within the next 3 days.

You learned pretty quick to be on time.

[Maigrey]

Let me reiterate:

Being habitually late is just another form of selfishness. It's all about me...!

[dakine]

I have been a supervisor for many years, my two hard fast rules that I tell everyone are:
1. Show up on time.
2. And work hard.
Then I tell them that everything else will take care of itself, this has been a suprisingly effective management technique that I have used for the last 20+ years....

[mewzilla]

Sounds good to me :)

[Tax-chick]

Now this is a problem! I think we're married to the same man!

[William Terrell]

The makup applier strives to achieve perfecton in a time warp illusion.

[Rebelbase]

My freshman girlfriend in college was late once. Scared the heck out of both of us! :-)

[CharacterCounts]

The rationalizer has a hard time acknowledging responsibility for lateness and tends to blame outside circumstances.

Boils down to --- I'm more imprtant than you.

The producer wants to squeeze as much into every minute as possible; they are always busy.

Boils down to --- I'm more imprtant than you.

The deadliner subconsciously enjoys the last-minute sprint to the finish line; they feel more alive when running out of time.

Boils down to --- I'm more imprtant than you.

The indulger exercises less self-control; tends to procrastinate.

Boils down to --- I'm more imprtant than you.

The rebel resists authority and everyday rules; might run late as a form of control.

Boils down to --- I'm more imprtant than you.

The absent-minded professor is easily distracted, forgetful and caught up in their own introspection.

Boils down to --- I'm more imprtant than you.

The evader feels anxiety about his or her environment and tries to control it; their own needs or routine come before being on time.

Boils down to --- I'm more imprtant than you.

All of the "excuses" boil down to one thing, the person is inconsiderate of others.

[Drawsing]

My wife calculates the exact amount of time needed to get somewhere, then leaves two minutes later than that. I give myself a 15-30 minute buffer in case of bad traffic or other unforeseen eventualities. Once I had a flat tire and still arrived on time.

[conservative cat]

I'm mixed. I'm late sometimes, early sometimes. (I was born 4 weeks late!) I think it's partially because my parents are chronically early. We'd always get to our destination way to early and then WAIT excessively.

I'm not usually very late- I more just squeek by with right-on time or less than 5 minutes late. (Except family events, where I'm a little later.)

[from occupied ga]

chronically late = inconsiderate a$$hole

[4mycountry]

IMHO, being late is an issue of PRIDE. Nothing is going to happen without ME. Nothing will get started or done without ME. I'm too important.