So, this post is coming completely out of the blue and was inspired by an article I read this morning on my way to class on the light rail. It was actually quite funny because I usually arrive at school with at least a half hour to spare because I like to be sure I am in my class room on time. I do not want others to wait on me and I want my teachers to feel that I am engaged in their class and care enough about their time and efforts to at least be there on time. This particular morning I was "running late", which, by my standards, means I was going to be at school with only 15 minutes to spare. Nonetheless, I was experiencing a racing heart, increased blood pressure, and irritability because I really hate being late. I remembered how I took extra time this morning to pick out my outfit, change my lipstick, and create a more elaborate eyeshadow look. I was, by definition fashionably late.
Ughhh, those words make my blood boil. The article I was reading can be seen here by the Huffington Post, written by Greg Savage, and basically he is making a point saying that "fashionably late" is just an excuse for people who lake respect for others or have no manners. Ain't that the truth. The very expression "fashionably late" makes a statement that you don't mind making others wait on you, just as long as you have the perfect shade of red lipstick and a triple-foam latte in your freshly manicured hand.
I'm not saying I'm perfect, I am a human and I do run late from time to time. Sometimes there are accidents that happen or other things that cannot be avoided that make you unavoidably late, I completely understand that. What I don't understand is when my time and efforts are not taken seriously and I am left waiting 15 minutes for you to show up to coffee. Also, your text that tells me you will be there in 5 minutes means nothing to me, because by 5 minutes, you really mean closer to 10 I am sure, which means I could have deposited my check at the bank before I met up with you. I am a busy individual, I'm sure you are a busy individual, lets all be adults and take each others loaded schedules seriously and just BE. ON. TIME.
Try to put it into perspective this way; we have all experienced that doctors visit that they advise you to be at 15 minutes early, yet don't even take you back until nearly half an hour after your scheduled appointments. By that time, the person before you is likely running late, you are running late, the person behind you is kept waiting and will be running late, it's a slippery slope! The excuse that the doctor is "very busy" means nothing to me because we are all very busy and the last place I want to spend my non-busy life moments is in a germ ridden waiting room with a crying child, a cell phone talker, and two gossiping receptionists.
As a college student, I loathe when I arrive to class perfectly on time (even with time to spare!) and people walk in late because they were busy printing out the assignment that was assigned a week ago, but they chose to print out two minutes before class. It goes along the same lines as procrastination, which is another thing that makes my head spin. What about on days of tests when you are in your chair waiting to be given the test that kept you up for the past three nights studying and your teacher says "I'm going to wait five minutes for the rest of the class to stagger in". How about no we just start the test and when they show up five minutes after class starts, they can just lose those 5 minutes off their test because CLEARLY they found that smoking their E-Cigarette was far more important than their awaiting exam. I find that these tend to be the same students that you are assigned to do a group project with and they continually arrive to group meetings tell you that they haven't yet written their section of the speech on an index card, but it will for sure be done. Please, do not waste peoples time with this kind of bull crap! Have your stuff written, ready, and rehearsed so you can practice together as a group and dominate the speech! Those of us who are ready do not want our grade to suffer because you procrastinated. We are all students, we all have full schedules with lots of classes, many of us also work on top of all that school work, so the least you can do is pull your own weight and do not make others wait on you.
This looks like it took a turn from being about lateness to procrastination, but they both seem to be knots in the same string to me and they are both huge pet peeves of my own. Oh, but one last piece of lasting advice: If you're going to be late, and you bring everyone coffee, you are no longer late ;)
