Pet Peeves: Not Being On Time

Since I try my best not to be emo on this blog, I think I should be able to rant. So I'm going to start a series on my pet peeves. Something I'm passionate about, right? First one is

Not Being On Time D:

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, before cell phones and text messaging, people were on time. You tell someone you'll meet them at 1pm, you get there maybe 5-10 minutes before 1pm so you can be there for the whole span from 12:55pm to 1:05pm. Your friend, being a responsible individual who would never want to keep you waiting, will show up in that time interval. People waste hardly any time and everything proceeds on schedule.

I remember in high school, I had two good friends who were ALWAYS ON TIME, if not early. Those were the days. I could always expect these two to show up right on the dot. I remember one time when a group of us were meeting, and when I arrive early, I knew that my on-time friend would be the next to come. And he does, right on time.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT.


Maybe we all need an ominous lizard clock to keep track of time.

Nowadays, with Berkeley time and iPhones and the extinction of watches, I am constantly judging and considering and making sure I show up at the right time, if not on time. No one wants to be the one waiting around. Party starts at 9? Show up at 11. Meet me in 15? For some, that means 30. I'll call you back at 2? No call ever. (actually that's unrelated and a different story)

After a year of people being late, I am late too. This makes me sad. I remember one time when I tried to use my late-time-judgement, but I still ended up waiting 40+ minutes... it was cold too! WTF. Is it so hard to be present at a time you determine without calling or canceling or running late? What happened to the common courtesy that says you shouldn't call last minute to change plans?


Ed from FMA is good at knowing what's important.

I am a very punctual person. I always arrive exactly when I want to arrive. But being at college has screwed me all up! I am actually late sometimes, but then other people are always late-r.

And now I'm going through all the times when someone's kept me waiting. All it says is that you don't consider the other person important enough to be on time and not waste their time. The more I think about it, the more annoyed I get. So I'm going to stop.

But remember kids, after five minutes means you're LATE. Not fifteen.