Pet peeves

One of my biggest pet peeves is tardiness. I hate waiting for anyone and I always try to be on time. I do not claim to be perfect as I am human and I am late sometimes. But I detest waiting for the same people over and over again. I don't like waiting for dinner companions, coffee dates, and doctors.  I detest waiting for people so much that I am sure I have blogged about this before.
 
The hospital I go to has little signs up saying that if you have been kept waiting more than 15 minutes to bring it to their attention at the registration desk. I have seen nurses come out and make an announcement that Dr so and so is running behind. I understand that sometimes doctors need to take more time with a patient who is having a bad day. We want our doctors to be able to do this but it may make them run behind schedule. So as long as they tell us, then it is okay. You also need to do your part by showing up on time. How is the doctor supposed to do his job if you aren't there at the scheduled time? Are you going to be late or are you not going to show up at all?

There is nothing worse than sitting around waiting for someone who is late and was the one who selected the meeting time and place in the first place. If you can't make it on time and know that, change the time, don't make me wait.

Even worse are contractors or other people you hire who are taking longer than estimated on a job and don't tell you. If they say two weeks and in week three are clearly not done and have not new estimate of an end date, I would get rid of them. When we redid our kitchen last year, I had a one month window for everything. I was very clear with the contractors that was the time frame and I wasn't budging. We planned ahead and it was done on time. I also was very sure to keep an open dialogue with them on what was needed so they could make me aware of unexpected issues arising (which they always do in home improvement) so they didn't cause delays and expense.

The reason why this is on my mind this morning is there was an article in the morning paper on how being late can harm your work image. "How often have you heard a co-worker say something like, “Sorry I’m late, I was on a call with . . .’’ It’s really not an excuse. If it happens once, it may be understandable. But when you do it repeatedly, it shows you are disorganized and disrespectful to the people you have kept waiting. And that is not a good image for you to build. Be on time. It’s the first thing you can do to being more successful at work."

Its not just about being more successful at work, its about being appreciated by your friends and family by doing what you said you would do and not letting them down or being disrespectful.