Well apparently my blog has been uninteresting lately because my blogger follower is slowly going down! LOL! Oh well. I love you all, but I have to write what I want to write...that's what blogging is all about right? I hope you still love me for it!
Today's topic is going to be one that REALLY gets under my skin. Being late. Not MY lateness (although in the rare occurrence this does happen, it does cause me major stress and frustration) but today I'm talking about people being late to hang out with me.
For some reason, it feels like people of my generation have made this a reoccurring bad habit. I have a lot of friends who do this to me. Honestly, if I ask you if want to hang out and say "7 o clock", I plan my entire day and evening on being ready for you to be there at 7 o'clock! Seriously, I really don't mean 7:30 or 8!
When you are late to hang out with me, it sends me a message that my time is not valuable to you.
Now, I understand (because I know a lot of these people) that maybe you just don't understand why it bothers me so much (what's the big deal Nicole, Gosh!!). Here's the thing. I have planned to be ready at exactly 7pm. When you aren't there, I am then sitting around for you. Being bored. I do not have any last minute "prepping" to do or anything to fill my time, because I don't want to get stuck in the middle of something and then be late for you! So instead I choose to sit around waiting for you, most likely bored. Realistically, this doesn't promote good thoughts or vibes as I sit watching the clock go by wondering when you will show up (and staring to think how frustrating it is when people can't show up on time!).
SO! Instead of just complaining here about it, which I thank you my dear bloggers for letting me do ;), I am going to tell you how it is that I show up to things on time (95% of the time at least). Hopefully this may help some of you who are wondering "is that me!?"
Nicole's steps to good time management:
1. I set a concrete time that I believe will be manageable and practical. If I have ANY doubt that I won't be able to be there by then- I either DO NOT set it, or I warn the person that there is a chance I may be late "because..."
2. When I get to the day of the "set time" I rearrange my day in order to make that goal time happen! I don't wait until the last minute to do something. Or if I do, I choose to NOT do it because again, I am choosing to show up on time and make that person know I care about honoring it!
3. 1-2 hours before I have to leave, I ALWAYS have this conversation with myself:
"I need to be there by 7pm. It takes me 25 minutes to drive there. I will give myself 5 minutes to get out the door. I will literally PUT MY SHOES ON at 6:30pm- no later!"
Ok, you may all be laughing right now at how crazy I sound, but if you only knew how many times I've wanted to have this conversation with someone!
Now, I want you all to know I did say I show up on time to 95% of all planned dates. There are acceptable excuses for being late, and I understand this! (flat tire, kid just pooped his pants, you forgot your wallet, etc). But let's be honest people, these "not on timers" usually have just really bad time management and no real valid excuses! Most of them don't even realize or apologize that they were being rude!
Hope I helped someone today.
Rant over.
Gotta go! I'm out the door by 6:55pm tonight :)
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9 comments:
My numbers have dropped too! :( Booo! I still read here so don't go leaving.... ;)
I don't like being late or being a no show. I try my best not to let others down but DO get frustrated when I am let down by others.
I totally agree! I actually run late a lot to work... because it's in the morning, haha. I don't do mornings. And my boss is ok w/ it as long as it's not DAILY & as long as i stay late to make up those 5 or 10 minutes.
But i'm always early or right on time to work at the theatre or to meet friends. It is INCREDIBLY RUDE to be late for those things! I mean, you are right...you sit around bored & looking at the clock! If i get a text that says "Mel, i am SOOO SORRY...this is what happened... i'll be there in ten minutes!" then i'm cool. But to just leave me hanging? RUDE! Thankfully, this hardly ever happens to me! But i hope your late friends read this post! :)
You can rant all you want!
I totally agree with you. I'm always early to things and people are now just too casual-freaking bugs me. But get this I have this one friend who I can only really get together with once a month or so and then she'll cancel last min. Once we didn't speak for 6 months-so disrespectful~
**whispers**
totally why I never check my stats or followers :)
we gotta write for us and, well, this "us" is still here reading!
I wrote a post real similar to this not too long ago. Being late is one of the best way to tell a friend I don't respect you and you aren't important.
i am always late and i do keep trying to get better at being on time. thanks for the reminder.
I am exactly the same way! My husband gets to frustrated with me because I'm so punctual about everything. Haha...keep in mind he comes from a family that's late for EVERYTHING! So frustrating. I'm finally breaking him of his whole "being late is okay" mentality though!
I feel ya. Now would you talk to my husband and get him to understand this? Cause I can't get through to him...which means I have becomes one of those "late" people and I can't stand it! Sometimes there is a valid reason (freeway literally shut down for a car accident) but most of the time it's just poor planning and it drives me batty! Now I'm a nag, too, to get him to get up and get going. And I hate nags, too. Sigh...
I totally agree with you I hate when people are late it is rude. My sister does it all the time and last year for my moms b-day dindin I finally blew a gasket cuz we were left wait (and hungry) at a restaurant for close to an hour for her I was so pissed and she has always been that way. Now its to the point where we either tell her an earlier time so that she will be there on time or I leave I give people around 20 min if they dont call to say they are running late or they are almost there then forget it it I have better things to do then sit around waiting for you to show up. Ugggg tardiness gives me rage. And if for some reason i'm late i get mad at myself BUTT I also call them and let them know even if its just 5 minutes.
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