Do people who are always late stress you out? (1 Viewer)

[Otis]

I’m not talking about my wife or kids always taking a long time to get ready, or someone who is late to my work meetings etc. That doesn’t even bother me all that much. 
 

The main example I can give is every morning im standing on the platform waiting for my commuter train, and the train is honking its horn up ahead about to arrive at the station, and invariably, practically every day, for years, I see this very same young woman running off in the distance, a block or two away. She’s petite, attractive, maybe in her 30s and we’ll dressed, but she’s a hot mess as she’s running with a bunch of bags over her shoulder hauling a bunch of crap. Every now and then an earring or something will fall out and she’ll turn around and go running back towards home scanning her path. I’m always standing a bit down the platform from where the stairs are, so I’ve never observed if she’s ever totally missed it.  

I look at someone like this and all I can think is “why?”  A one time occurrence, maybe, stuff happens, I’ve probably sprinted for the train once or twice in the past couple of years. But this is every. Single. Day. It’s like clockwork. Why would someone do this?  Imagine if she just woke up 10 minutes earlier and left her house 10 minutes earlier?  She could have a nice leisurely stroll to the train, with a cup in her hand. Get up to the platform with plenty of time. 

Maybe I’m too much the other way. I’m usually one of the first people standing there on the platform. If I’m not 10 minutes early, I’m late.  But man, that seems like such a stressful way to live, and unnecessarily.
 

What am I missing here?

 

[Osaurus]

I’m not talking about my wife or kids always taking a long time to get ready, or someone who is late to my work meetings etc. That doesn’t even bother me all that much. 
 

The main example I can give is every morning im standing on the platform waiting for my commuter train, and the train is honking its horn up ahead about to arrive at the station, and invariably, practically every day, for years, I see this very same young woman running off in the distance, a block or two away. She’s petite, attractive, maybe in her 30s and we’ll dressed, but she’s a hot mess as she’s running with a bunch of bags over her shoulder hauling a bunch of crap. Every now and then an earring or something will fall out and she’ll turn around and go running back towards home scanning her path. I’m always standing a bit down the platform from where the stairs are, so I’ve never observed if she’s ever totally missed it.  

I look at someone like this and all I can think is “why?”  A one time occurrence, maybe, stuff happens, I’ve probably sprinted for the train once or twice in the past couple of years. But this is every. Single. Day. It’s like clockwork. Why would someone do this?  Imagine if she just woke up 10 minutes earlier and left her house 10 minutes earlier?  She could have a nice leisurely stroll to the train, with a cup in her hand. Get up to the platform with plenty of time. 

Maybe I’m too much the other way. I’m usually one of the first people standing there on the platform. If I’m not 10 minutes early, I’m late.  But man, that seems like such a stressful way to live, and unnecessarily.
 

What am I missing here?

I don’t care about mundane things like commuting, but it bothers the #### out of me when I have plans with folks and they’re late for reasons of laziness. I was taught being on time is being respectful of others. I’m sure opinions vary.

 

[rockaction]

That sounds like a dream in a French New Wave film. Only the protagonist can interpret it. 

 

[WDIK2]

Yes, it would bother me if I saw that every day. 

We have people that are late almost every day due to traffic.  These aren't people that have to drop off kids at school or daycare at a certain time.  Ummm, how about leaving home just a few minutes earlier?

I'm a get to the airport early kind of guy.  Low stress getting through security.  Grab a bite to eat, cup of coffee and just chill at the gate.  I have a couple coworkers I travel with that are the opposite.  Scramble to get through security at it's busiest time and get to the gate right before boarding.  Not worth the stress to me.

 

[belljr]

I’m not talking about my wife or kids always taking a long time to get ready, or someone who is late to my work meetings etc. That doesn’t even bother me all that much. 
 

The main example I can give is every morning im standing on the platform waiting for my commuter train, and the train is honking its horn up ahead about to arrive at the station, and invariably, practically every day, for years, I see this very same young woman running off in the distance, a block or two away. She’s petite, attractive, maybe in her 30s and we’ll dressed, but she’s a hot mess as she’s running with a bunch of bags over her shoulder hauling a bunch of crap. Every now and then an earring or something will fall out and she’ll turn around and go running back towards home scanning her path. I’m always standing a bit down the platform from where the stairs are, so I’ve never observed if she’s ever totally missed it.  

I look at someone like this and all I can think is “why?”  A one time occurrence, maybe, stuff happens, I’ve probably sprinted for the train once or twice in the past couple of years. But this is every. Single. Day. It’s like clockwork. Why would someone do this?  Imagine if she just woke up 10 minutes earlier and left her house 10 minutes earlier?  She could have a nice leisurely stroll to the train, with a cup in her hand. Get up to the platform with plenty of time. 

Maybe I’m too much the other way. I’m usually one of the first people standing there on the platform. If I’m not 10 minutes early, I’m late.  But man, that seems like such a stressful way to live, and unnecessarily.
 

What am I missing here?

Maybe she has kids she has to get on the bus, maybe she has other things she has to take care of

And no that wouldnt stress me out a all.  

My wife making ME late is what stresses me out

 

[-OZ-]

The only thing which stresses me out when it's late is my wife's "special friend". 

 

[otb_lifer]

take an earlier train 

 

[Ilov80s]

I've worked with 1 or 2 people like that and it doesn't bother me (because luckily my role didn't depend on them in anyway) but it does make me question how they can live like that- always frantic, rushing, etc. That is just the total opposite of me that I can't fathom it. 

 

[rockaction]

I've worked with 1 or 2 people like that and it doesn't bother me (because luckily my role didn't depend on them in anyway) but it does make me question how they can live like that- always frantic, rushing, etc. That is just the total opposite of me that I can't fathom it. 

Smoove B 80s? 

 

[TLEF316]

If it doesn't affect me, not really. I would honestly laugh if I saw that every day. Would probably make me feel better about myself for having my #### together.

But I have family members who are ALWAYS late or just bordering on late to everything. (My brother arrives everywhere with like 30 seconds to spare)Drives me insane.

My mom in particular is late every single time we meet up,(once every couple of months for dinner) and it's almost because she inexplicably scheduled something else (salon appointment, dog grooming, doctors,etc.) right beforehand.

And then she acts SHOCKED when she's 20 minutes late to dinner because her haircut took too long and she got stuck in traffic. Drives me ####in nuts.

 

[El Floppo]

If it doesn't affect me, not really. I would honestly laugh if I saw that every day. Would probably make me feel better about myself for having my #### together.

But I have family members who are ALWAYS late or just bordering on late to everything. (My brother arrives everywhere with like 30 seconds to spare)Drives me insane.

My mom in particular is late every single time we meet up,(once every couple of months for dinner) and it's almost because she inexplicably scheduled something else (salon appointment, dog grooming, doctors,etc.) right beforehand.

And then she acts SHOCKED when she's 20 minutes late to dinner because her haircut took too long and she got stuck in traffic. Drives me ####in nuts.

This.

Somebody that doesn't affect me like latesy Leslie on the train? Doesn't affect me.

But friends, work associates/clients, family (and I've got some of each)...yes. irritates and frustrates me. Having to be late to a show, party, event, whatever because my brother or couple of friends haven't once arrived on time since I've known them? Feh. I had one client who was always late or just wouldnt show up. Considering most of these meetings involved many different peoples schedules, and my having to arrange them...annoying as hell. But ultimately they're paying for our time, so it washed out in the end...other than the schedule being pushed back (which is always my fault)

 

[mr. furley]

it bothers the #### out of me when I have plans with folks and they’re late for reasons of laziness. I was taught being on time is being respectful of others. I’m sure opinions vary.

 

[mr. furley]

The only thing which stresses me out when it's late is my wife's "special friend". 

What am I talkin' about? I'm talkin' about sex, boy, what the hell you talkin' about? I'm talkin' about l'amour! I'm talkin' that me and Dot are swingers, as in "to swing". I'm talkin' about wife swappin'. I'm talkin' about what they call nowadays open marriage. 

 

[Quint]

5 minutes early = on time 

on time = late

this is my hangup. I cannot stand being late for anything important (e.g. work, meetings, classes, dinner reservations)  

 

[Gally]

Random people that don't affect me don't bother me.  I would probably chuckle every day at the mess.  Now, my daughter who is always late to the point that we end up telling her we are leaving 30 minutes earlier than we need to so she might be ready on time.  This drives me bonkers......

 

[wikkidpissah]

chronic lateness on the part of friends is why i have so few of them. i abhor it, mostly because it's passive-aggressive and makes clear that a person believes his time to be more important than others. but i dont stress, i pass it on. i slice em like bologna, make a sloppy sammich of all their fetishes i have notebooked to that point and offer a bite to anyone in the room. employers, who have paid for my time, get immunity. i am merciless with anyone else. and i am gooood....

 

[NutterButter]

Only if it affects me in a way that have to do some cleanup of the fallout that occurs b/c that person is late.    

 

[Terminalxylem]

I've worked with 1 or 2 people like that and it doesn't bother me (because luckily my role didn't depend on them in anyway) but it does make me question how they can live like that- always frantic, rushing, etc. That is just the total opposite of me that I can't fathom it. 

I like rushing, and always try to cram as much possible in at the last possible minute. I work better under pressure, and usually am late 5 minutes or less, if at all.

The only time this causes problems is when my wife adds an unexpected chore to my list. Unlike me, she’s not much for planning.

 

[CurlyNight]

If it matters, I tell people to come half hour or an hour before I want them there, depending on the person. 

 

[TLEF316]

If it doesn't affect me, not really. I would honestly laugh if I saw that every day. Would probably make me feel better about myself for having my #### together.

But I have family members who are ALWAYS late or just bordering on late to everything. (My brother arrives everywhere with like 30 seconds to spare)Drives me insane.

My mom in particular is late every single time we meet up,(once every couple of months for dinner) and it's almost because she inexplicably scheduled something else (salon appointment, dog grooming, doctors,etc.) right beforehand.

And then she acts SHOCKED when she's 20 minutes late to dinner because her haircut took too long and she got stuck in traffic. Drives me ####in nuts.

Bumping this thread because I honestly can not believe how inconsiderate these "always late" people are.

Obviously not much at all to do right now, so my brother and I agreed to play golf today. Club is "open" but not taking tee times or anything, so its just first come, first serve. Weather is nice and again....no sports on TV...so the expectation is that it will be at least somewhat crowded.

We played yesterday and he showed up like 5 minutes after we had agreed. Because of that, another group beat us to the first tee which slowed us down quite a bit. He acknowledged that was "his bad".

So what does he do today? Shows up 15 minutes late. In the 25 minutes between my arrival and his, FOUR groups go down the first tee and 3 of them were still lined up when I just said "#### it" and left. Met him in the parking lot (he was just getting there) and told him I was leaving. Not about to wait 45 minutes to tee off, especially with the range not even open yet.

We live a mile apart 10 minutes from the course (so there was no chance he was in traffic or anything) and he had absolutely nothing to do today. He was late solely because he couldn't be bothered to walk out his door at 1PM instead of 1:30.

I'm already in a foul as hell mood with the tournament being cancelled but damn does this have me fuming. God forbid people just show up 5 minutes early to something.

 

[zamboni]

5 minutes early = on time 

on time = late

This is what my son’s baseball coach always used to say. Except it was 15 minutes early = on time, on time = late, and 5 minutes late = unacceptable.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

chronic lateness on the part of friends is why i have so few of them. i abhor it, mostly because it's passive-aggressive and makes clear that a person believes his time to be more important than others. but i dont stress, i pass it on. i slice em like bologna, make a sloppy sammich of all their fetishes i have notebooked to that point and offer a bite to anyone in the room. employers, who have paid for my time, get immunity. i am merciless with anyone else. and i am gooood....

exactly.  

This was ingrained in me growing up.  It's a matter of respect for another human being.

We continually struggle with our son on this ...who, like many examples here ...IF he leaves on "his time", all traffic has to work perfectly for him to slide in on-time with only seconds within the actual time.*

*His on-time definition is a "few minutes" past the real scheduled time.

Would it surprise you that he's lost a number of jobs based on his tardiness?  ARRGGGGHHHH.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

I will tell you that the example of the original post is not necessarily just laziness or being a ####ty person.  There are aspects of anxiety and other mental illness that can make even the simplest things become a problem all the time.

now if that is the case, it would be ideal for such a person to get help to correct that, but it is something to keep in mind.

 

[Apple Jack]

My CEO used to have a terrible habit of being late to client meetings. That used to drive me up the wall.