Being late

The idea of being late panics me a bit so I'm usually early, sometimes annoyingly so. I'm late for work sometimes cos the trams are so unreliable, but it's a running joke in Manchester how bad they are so nobody really minds.

Being late makes me very anxious. I would rather be the first person there, even if that means I stand around feeling awkward for a while than be late. For me, I think it comes from the fact that my parents are always late!

I blame my father - he tends to tell mum he's ready to go then wanders off somewhere while she gets herself up and ready. By the time he comes back, they are inevitably late. He blames her, says she should be ready the minute he says he is and then he wouldn't wander off!!!!

These days, mum is a little slower getting out of her chair as well, so it's even worse. When I need them to be somewhere, I always tell them they have to be there half an hour earlier as that way they may be on time!

Oh God, I am a late person for sure.

If I *have* to be somewhere, say an interview or a doctors appointment, I will be on time/early.

If I'm going for dinner/to a friends house/anything else, I'll always be late. I just don't give myself enough time to get ready, or I think I'll be able to get there quicker. I never ever factor in traffic etc. Terrible, I know! If my friends plan on meeting at 1pm, they'll tell me 12:45 because they know I'll get there at 1, haha.

I'm generally an on time person, I get myself flustered if I'm late.

My H's family are terrible though, if you say be at someone's house for 1 they will definitely turn up nearer 2. 10-15 minutes I could let go, but an hour really p!sses me off

I'm usually on time. Sometimes if it's not an important occasion I'll be a bit too relaxed and be a bit late but if that's the case I always call or text to warn the person I'm meeting.

I am quite often a few minutes late back from lunch though. But that's just a lack of respect for my job I guess!

I am usually 5-10 minutes late to most things. OH is always early, so when we're going somewhere together, we usually end up bang on time, because I delay him and he chivvies me along. If it's something important like the doctor then I'm early, but I am never the first to arrive at social events. I don't start work at a specific time so my days are not that well structured, I think that may have something to do with it.

I f234ing despise waiting around for other people. I'm always on time, and generally early. most of my friends don't seem to have any idea how to time manage.

I got ready for a night out once, my friend said she'd be round at 8 for a drink before we went out. She turned up at 10:30. I was smashed.

I'm usually late but I hate it and get really anxious. I'm just not very good at time management. ?

I'm just genuinely interested in how it's possible (leaving aside, as I said above, emergencies in traffic etc).

Ideally for a night out, I'd like an hour to get ready, so I start getting ready an hour before I need to go out. If, for whatever reason, I can't start getting ready an hour earlier, I just cut short my getting ready (will put my hair up instead of straightening, will take my normal bag out instead of spending 10 minutes picking out stuff to put in a different bag etc) rather than leave anyone waiting.

Im always early! I work out how long travel time is and then add some 'just in case' then work out how long it will take me to get ready then will start getting ready about 10 mins before that!

Like you Knees, if for some reason i start to run late, i will do what ever i can or cut out whatever I can to ensure i still make it on time!

I have a friend that is always late. it is a running joke but can be so annoying. she just faffs getting ready then faffs when leaving the house! its a night mare trying to leave her house with her!

We were late to a 60th wedding anniversary at the weekend, thought an hour would be plenty of time to get ready (it wasn't). My hair wasn't doing what I wanted, forgot I needed to get petrol, got into the car and realised I'd forgotten the card and it took longer than I thought to get there. The invitation said 2pm, I just though people would turn up after 2 not exactly at 2 or before! I've found to be on time for things I need to get ready hours early, then I end up sitting there ready not being able to do anything which is really annoying.

I'm sometimes late. The reason? I faff.

I am always early or on time. Can't stand lateness.

Until recently, my best friend lived just round the corner (I could see her house from my house, so REALLY close). She was always late. Not just a couple of minutes either.

She has been a few hours late before, it winds me up no end.

I hate lateness - it makes me REALLY angry. I'm usually early, parked up nearby and then I time to arrive or knock on the door a couple of minutes before I'm due. I just don't understand why people are late. If you have an appointment or meeting someone, then why would you want to keep them waiting. Luckily hubby is the same as me. We live 45 minutes drive from where he works and if it snows, he gets up earlier and sets off earlier to he gets there on time yet people who live just round the corner are late!

I'm with you on this, Knees and Mrs Bass. I cannot understand lateness. I fell out with a friend who was constantly late as it just said to me that she didn't have any respect for even trying to get somewhere on time, and basically took our friendship for granted (there were other reasons why we fell out but this was the straw that broke the camel's back). My "fashionably late" is 15 minutes late and even that stresses me out! In Denmark if you are even ten minutes late for a dinner invitation people will wonder if you've forgotten about it. Although when I threw my first house party here I thought I had plenty of time to get the house better looking as the hot snacks I was making was taking longer than I thought ... it was 6.30pm and we'd said 7pm. So I thought I was ok "because who shows up bang on 7pm?" Well, Danes do. And if they don't, they will send a message to say how long they will be or apologise that they have to cancel. I love it.

Just to clarify though - I'm never more than 15-20 minutes late! Never hours or anything!

I'm a bit of a mixed bag I like to show about 10 mins early but sometimes with my job I can struggle to leave on time. I always get collared as I'm leaving & I struggle to say 'not now'.

I am exactly the same. I am either on time or early for work and other appointments but I am awful at being on time for social things. I don't know if it's because there is less of a routine involved but I am crap at getting to places on time. I always leave it too late to start getting ready so I'm often leaving the house at around the time that I should be arriving. I don't know why there is such a difference in my timekeeping but I need to sort it out!

I am late for everything! Meeting friends, dinner, medical appointments, uni, work, flights...everything.

I have no idea how it happens, no matter how much time I leave it is never enough!

Im never more than 10 mins late though, and have no issue with people being late for me...so at least I'm not a hypocrite ?

Haha a lot of you wouldn't want to meet up with me...

I am a late person, I leave lots to the last minute, I daydream, I stare into space and I often get distracted by something (whether it is shiny or not). For things like work or appointments, I get there just by the skin of my teeth. I hate waiting around.

Being late is rude! I have an old friend who is ALWAYS quite late so l insist on meeting her somewhere l can do stuff and not get too annoyed or bored. She is quite scatty and her organiational skills are poor.

A work colleague of mine was at a work do and missed the coach by getting to the meeting place over 20 minutes. He had to get the train from Northampton to South Essex the next day. We all laughed and the whole hospital heard about it! To be fair he hasn't been late for work since.

An old work colleague observed l always get somewhere 90 seconds before l meant to. What is wrong with that?! I start work at 7.30am most of the time, what is wrong with being on the ward at 7.28am? If they want to pay me from 7.28am or 7.25am then l will get to work at those times!

This is my H! He is always late for things, but gets really annoyed if people make him wait. He doesn't understand when I call him a hypocrite!

I like to be early and tend to panic about being late. Im usually first to arrive somewhere.

Even to the point where our registrar freaked out because I'd turned up so early! They'd given us a time and I was only about ten minutes before that and H had been 15 (when they had told him to arrive) apparently no bride has ever turned up when they were meant to!

I'll always ring and tell people I'm going to be late though, and it's usually by about 10/15 minutes.

I got annoyed with H the other weekend. We were going to a wedding reception which started at 7, but he had cricket so we were going straight from there. Cricket didn't finish until 8:30, and then he wanted to go down the pub before the wedding!! ? As if being over an hour late wasn't bad enough...

All of this!! H2B can't stand being late and if we're going somewhere together he will confiscate anything that may distract me (eg phone, shiny materials) and regularly has to come and chivvy me along because I'll just be sat staring at the mirror on my dressing table daydreaming! I always seem to think that I move quicker than I do and as such it's always 'oh I just need to..' as I head out the door. I'm also fairly disorganised and regularly leave birthday presents, drinks etc at home and have to go back for them! Work I now actually arrive an hour early and do some overtime before work as we dont have parking at work and I was regularly turning up late because I couldn't get parked nearby... I'm still never there for the time I aim for (I'll aim for 8 but normally there about 10 past, so I'm either 50 minutes early or 10 minutes late, depending how you look at it!)

I never seem to factor in extra driving time (which I should, as we live in the middle of nowhere up single track lanes so I often have to stop and wait for someone to pass or reverse half way up the road to let a tractor past or something!) Any other appointment I seem to be running through the door bang on the time (such as beauticians yesterday) and on that occassion I'd even made myself start leaving 10 minutes earlier than I thought I needed to, still didn't work! Clearly, like my uni work ethic, I only seem to be able to function under immense time pressure and if I give myself any longer I just slow down, because I don't need to rush!

It is something I am trying to work on as it causes lots of arguments between me and H2B as he can't stand being late...

ETA - I normally let people know I'm running late, and its usually at most 10 minutes, usually its just literally a few minutes past the time we agreed, I'll just run in panting!

My work drive me crazy with this too. They expect us to boot up and log on the incredibly slow and crappy PCs and read any emails that have arrived since last night (or Fri night) in our own time. I basically do 10min unpaid every day, which isn't a lot but adds up.

I'm definitely an early person. If I'm on time, I'm late.

Thankfully OH is an on time person - my ex was a late person and it would drive me mad! Being late stresses me out, as I hate to think I am inconveniencing someone.

I'm an early bird. Like others being late stresses me out and in my job, being late isn't an option...which can sometimes result in being parked up around the corner for an hour or more before we're due, but it's better than being late! Funnily enough I was looking at this yesterday- it's me!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/floperry/socially-awkward-situations-for-people-who-are-always-ear

I love that Pavone!

It does all add up. I can accrue the time they owe me but we are quite busy so it is hard to use it.

Ugh this is something that really gets to me.

I am one of those overly organised on time, if not early people.

My best friend is late to anything and everything. Even when I have picked her up from work she has been about 30 mins late just due to faffing. I just don't understand. I get so frustrated with timings and would never be late especially if I have people waiting for me.

I'm always on time or a few mins early (and walk round the block)

Persistent lateness is rude - the message being "my time is more important than yours". Not acceptable in my book. I'll give you 10 mins if you're lucky, then I'm off!