One of my biggest pet
peeves is people who are chronically late. I’m not talking about the occasional
running behind that happens to all of us, I’m talking about people that are
always, without fail, 15-20 minutes late everywhere they go. Many years ago, I was friends with a group of
people who met up for brunch every Sunday.
Invariably, one friend was always late.
Not a few minutes late. We’re
talking at least 30 minutes late, if not more.
Everyone else would be there, but we couldn’t be seated until our entire
party had arrived. So we would sit there in the lobby, twiddling our thumbs
until she rushed in. Eventually, we
started telling her we were meeting 30 minutes before we really were. When she
found out, she got mad at us.
Really? You’re late all the time,
but you’re mad at us because we don’t want to wait? Know what else irks me? Arriving for a doctor’s appointment and not
being seen until much, much later. I get
that sometimes emergencies happen and that some patients take longer than
others. My problem is with doctors who
consistently run over an hour late or longer.
Someone I know was scheduled for out patient surgery. They were instructed to take pain medication
an hour before their appointment.
Unfortunately the doctor, who had never managed to see them on time any
other time, was running late yet again and didn’t actually see them until an
hour and a half after they were scheduled.
The pain medication had worn off and the doctor had the audacity to
berate my friend for taking it too early!
Seriously?! With insurance rates
sky high and out of pocket expenses expensive, there’s no excuse for that kind
of behavior. Talk about arrogance! Ever work with someone who was late to work
every day? Meetings can’t start on time,
projects are late, the phones aren’t turned on, the doors aren’t unlocked. Other people in the department have to cover
for them because they can’t get their stuff done on time. These people are always so surprised when
they get bad reviews or don’t get a raise.
It never occurs to them that everyone else manages to get to work on
time so they should too. People! Every job you ever have is going to want you
to come to work when you’re scheduled.
It’s a standard requirement.
People behaving badly.
