A Word (Or 500+) on Lateness- He Said

He Said: 

Anthony

On the subject of being late to things, I’ll start by saying this: I’m not about it.

That is not to say I’m on time for everything, as in any kind of occasion under the sun. If there’s a party that starts at 10pm, chances are I’ll be rolling up to it at 10:30pm the earliest. I’d say that’s pretty standard.

However, if we’re talking about the subject of tardiness to appointments, then I’m not a fan of lateness—both on the giving and receiving ends of things.

If you tell me that you’re available to meet at 1 o’clock, being five minutes late without a heads up is no problem. But being 20 minutes late without a text or call, or especially for blatantly not caring about being on time, is just not cool in my world.

I don’t care if it’s a business meeting for launching the next big smartphone app or plans to go to Merritt Canteen and eat the most delicious food you’ll probably regret eating later on, a man’s (or woman’s) word should be kept within reason.

What would we be as a society if everyone thought it were acceptable to go around making plans and not honoring them? Or, like I mentioned, at least revising them if things get in the way? Savages—that’s what we’d be.

And listen, I’m not here to persecute people who are honestly mistaken on a mix-up with plans. That happens. Life happens, too, which is why people do have to be late sometimes. But it’s the instance of someone having no regard for something they could easily be on time for that irks me.

To be honest, though, I’ve come to expect and live with lateness more after coming to college. Even in the instances where it’s kind of an eye-roller to have to deal with, it just happens so often that I don’t rely on people being on time.

What’s kind of cool, to me, about caring less about punctuality is I’ve become less worried about being “on time” to things that aren’t so important, like going to gatherings or a friend’s house to just hang out. High school me would’ve broken a sweat trying to be on time to anything. College me? Not so much, and that’s good.

Don’t get me wrong, people being late to certain things is, and always will be, annoying. However, I’ve learned that, regardless of the situation, it’s rarely the end of the world.

Like I said, I cared about being on time way too much in high school. A lot of it came from playing basketball, I’d say. If someone wasn’t on time for practice, my coaches would typically punish everyone by making us run for a while, so the threat of having to get in true shape was always motivation enough to want to be on time.

Also in high school, this is the way I’d map out my mornings: if I wanted to hit the diner by 7:45am before class, I’d be the most stressed human in the world if I got there at 7:50am. That extra five-minute padding meant more to me than it should have. The corned beef hash was always on point though, so there was never much to fret about.

Breakfast food aside, I assume my conclusion on this trifling, but actually kind of important matter, is that lateness is sometimes warranted, and almost always annoying. It’s so annoying I have to just stop writing about it. Good night. Don’t be late if you can avoid it.

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