It's been a while since my last proper post and I don't really have a valid excuse except to say that I've been lazy and was consciously avoiding my own blog because of an unforeseen circumstance. But today I found myself backreading Patty Laurel's blog and while I generally love all her posts, nothing affected me as much as her entry on Time.
In her August entry, Patty was able to describe my exact thoughts and feelings about being on time and people who aren't as conscious about being late. Being late is one of my top pet peeves. All my watches are advanced and I'm almost always early for my appointments. It may be a type A personality trait, but wasting time just rubs me the wrong way. Being late speaks so much not just about how you value your own time, but how your respect other people's time as well.
Here are two paragraphs from her entry that summarizes my view on the matter:
A person's relationship with time is very telling. Punctuality does not make you a stickler, it makes you considerate of others. Of course, the same consideration allows you to be flexible and allow for a bit of a grace period in between the minutes. You'll forgive a 9:07am arrival for a casual 9:00am meeting but if it's a visa application, job interview, or a client presentation 9:00am roughly translates to 8:30am if you really want to make a good impression.
It's not cute or cool or funny to be late, if you think about it---it actually is quite rude. In other countries, being on time is the only way to go. I can imagine being late in Japan, Germany or Singapore is like having LBM---it's something that could happen to anyone but it's something you would try your very best to avoid, something you'd be embarrassed about and something that could ruin your entire day and your dealings with others. Unless you have a valid reason like an emergency or a health related issue, then being late shouldn't become an option.
You can read the entire entry here.
