Being On Time Isn't Optional

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.