People being late for everything
- Thread starter Adam
- Start date
absolutely abhore lateness,
I work as a self employed taxi driver and I sub contract for a large airport transfer company.i always allow enough time to get to a booking with time to spare,
easy enough to park up round the corner and read the paper or grab a coffee before arriving 2 mins to booking time. and on the odd occasion where something goes wrong accident on the road or a puncture I find myself with time to put things right
annoys the heck out of me when I speak to fellow cabbies and they talk about turning up to pick someone up 10-15 mins late, its completely unprofessional and shows a total lack of respect
I work as a self employed taxi driver and I sub contract for a large airport transfer company.i always allow enough time to get to a booking with time to spare,
easy enough to park up round the corner and read the paper or grab a coffee before arriving 2 mins to booking time. and on the odd occasion where something goes wrong accident on the road or a puncture I find myself with time to put things right
annoys the heck out of me when I speak to fellow cabbies and they talk about turning up to pick someone up 10-15 mins late, its completely unprofessional and shows a total lack of respect
Soldato
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I agree with the article and op entirely usually for the "serial abusers of time" I give them a time that's at least 1/2 an hour earlier than the ones who strive to be on time that way I know they'll all be on time 
I would settle for people giving themselves plenty of time to get to an arrangement early! It's only the stupid ones who are continually late that need to rush then put theirs and other peoples lives at risk by rushing.
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Start the meetings without the latecomers. Don't update them. Scold them for not knowing what is going on.
Much harder to deal with in social situations though. Last year a bunch of us went out for dinner for a girl's birthday. Myself and two others were on time, the birthday girl herself arrived 40minutes late, and we nearly missed the booking.
Hell of annoying
Much harder to deal with in social situations though. Last year a bunch of us went out for dinner for a girl's birthday. Myself and two others were on time, the birthday girl herself arrived 40minutes late, and we nearly missed the booking.
Hell of annoying
Awwww you had to wait ten minutes over your slot? Think about what the clinician is going through.
As Centurion very rightly said, things are not that cut and dried in a doctors'. You think he's sitting there twiddling his thumbs waiting for you? If a slot is allocated for, say, 20 mins, there can be a tonne or reasons why it can go over. Patient being elderly, unexpected complications, overly concerned patient, extra tests etc etc, and if ONE patient goes over by a lot, it snowballs and can cause the whole day to overrun.
It's tough, and doctors do an amazing job. They're under a load of pressure and have to appear understanding and affable at the same time, while delivering an excellent service.
I remember having a colleague who would make me late EVERY meeting. One time she was painting her nails before the meeting and we had to wait while they dried. That was the final straw!
It doesn't work both ways though does it, if I turn up 10-15 minutes to anticipate the lateness then I lose my appointment or go to the back of the queue. These guys do a great job so I can cut them some slack but I can't when I arrange a private dental appointment and they too are late.
It doesn't work both ways though does it, if I turn up 10-15 minutes to anticipate the lateness then I lose my appointment or go to the back of the queue. These guys do a great job so I can cut them some slack but I can't when I arrange a private dental appointment and they too are late.
Soldato
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Yeah I totally agree. A Doctors appointment beibg late because they're seeing other patient's and over running is completely different to your annoying mate who always late to pub or something. Terrible comparison.
I had a situation like this a while back, I drove back from a day out with friends at (shall we say) slightly higher than the speed limit to avoid being late, the person in question who's birthday it was turned up an hour late -especially narked me off as I had rushed to make sure I was there on time. Didn't bother the next time, was just late - still got there before them though
Yeeeessss.... until you are the first appointment of the day, see your doctor stroll in 10 mins late, then he calls for you 10 mins later, at the same time as you're reading the notices telling you how you'll get a "strike" if you're late, and how you will only get 10 mins with the doctor and only be allowed to ask about one thing so appointments don't overrun.
Fair enough, if every patient was a little late, you'd be an hour behind by lunchtime, but it's not just patients who make everything drag on.
For instance, I know for a fact that a lot of hospitals overbook appointments sometimes by a factor of five, because they expect some people not to show up. So when five people show up for a 10am appointment, everyone but the first person is going to be 10-60 minutes late, and of course this has a knock on effect for the whole day.
Likewise, I've had 45 minute appointments at the dentist and been done in 30, but the next person is never called in early, same as I've never been called in early even if I've been their half an hour before my appointment.
So swings and roundabouts, there is always dead time in every job, and it's not always the case that a doctor's time is more important than the patient's time. It's not always the case that it's the patient making the doctor late - it's just as likely to be the other way around.
My wife's a nurse, and the stories she tells about doctors who waste not just a patient's time, but the time of all the other medical staff waiting on them would make you want to give them a smack in the face.
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Associate
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Drives me mad people late for things. Especially when no proper reason is given...
Caporegime
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Most of the article is utter bull, a woman going to a party chooses to turn up at 9pm? If it was a dinner party, sure, but a normal party, people can chose to go when they want. Likewise, life happens. Some of it is fine, people who are late, rude about it or clearly take extra time to pick up coffee or whatever else. But a dentist being late, apparently under the idea that doctors and dentists can predict every single occurrence that could happen. God forbid the dentist decide this persons own teeth will take 10 mins longer than they thought and decides to bring them back another day to finish to make sure the next person isn't late. 5 mins longer than you think for 10 appointments and suddenly you're basically an hour behind.
There is rude, late for no reason but also being a "late Nazi" and pretending every single situation in which someone is late is completely avoidable, ridiculous.
This woman going to a party at 9pm is clearly telling everyone they will be there at 9pm, you can't be late if you turn up when people expect you, expecting someone else to agree to when YOU think they should be there is completely stupid.
There is rude, late for no reason but also being a "late Nazi" and pretending every single situation in which someone is late is completely avoidable, ridiculous.
This woman going to a party at 9pm is clearly telling everyone they will be there at 9pm, you can't be late if you turn up when people expect you, expecting someone else to agree to when YOU think they should be there is completely stupid.
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Shall start doing this as GF is always majorly late for everything.God I hate Time Nazis, they always seem to be people with naff all else to do other than organise pointless meetings so they can bitch about people who have more important work to do.
Well done, you can "organise" your completely empty day so you can be sat in a chair at precisely 9:30:00am, so we can all play Management BS Bingo for hours until someone has had enough and smashes you in the face with their iPad.
So what if a Doctor/Dentist/Vet is 20 femtoseconds late, maybe someone died and they needed to tick a box?
I do not expect the world to revolve around me just because some nobody has an Atomic Clock shoved up their ass.
Well done, you can "organise" your completely empty day so you can be sat in a chair at precisely 9:30:00am, so we can all play Management BS Bingo for hours until someone has had enough and smashes you in the face with their iPad.
So what if a Doctor/Dentist/Vet is 20 femtoseconds late, maybe someone died and they needed to tick a box?
I do not expect the world to revolve around me just because some nobody has an Atomic Clock shoved up their ass.
What I never understand is when people think that because their work start at say, 9:00am, they arrange their morning with the intention of getting there AT 9:00, I mean in a perfect world that would be great but unfortunately in a world of lost keys, no clean socks and unexpectedly long poos, that just isn't logical.
Realistically though we can't always be on time, a few minutes here and there doesn't hurt anybody and frankly the people who get upset by having to wait those few minutes can shove it. I don't count 5 minutes as particularly late, 10-15 and yes you're starting to push it, more than that and something had better have been on fire.
Realistically though we can't always be on time, a few minutes here and there doesn't hurt anybody and frankly the people who get upset by having to wait those few minutes can shove it. I don't count 5 minutes as particularly late, 10-15 and yes you're starting to push it, more than that and something had better have been on fire.
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Associate
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Timekeeping is a tool used by our corporate masters and I choose to disregard it.