Monday, November 2, 2009

It's not really that diffcult...

To be on time, that is.

I grew up in a house run by a mother who believed that being on time meant being 10 minutes early. Whether it was work, school, church, an appointment, we were always a few minutes early. [I don't know what's happened over the years, but now I think my mother will be late for her own funeral. But I digress...]

Fortunately, Veronica is just as punctual as I am. For the most part...

Having young kids can make it challenging to be on time. They seem to have a knack for spilling something, losing something, or generally being a pain in the ass at exactly the wrong time. I understand that, and it doesn't really bother me too much.

But if you're always 5 minutes late, just start getting ready to go 5 minutes sooner.

Can't find your car keys? How about consistently putting them in the same spot?
Kids have trouble picking out clothes? Choose for them, let them know if they want to pick their own clothes, they can't dawdle around
[Can you tell what some of the issues are in my house?]

When I was in grad school, I had an office wife. She was, and still is, one of my best friends. We started and finished our degrees together and spent countless 10-12 hr days together over the 4 years we were students. During all that time, we talked about a number of different things and became really close, hence thinking of her as a second wife. And I was her office husband. Only without any sex...

When Veronica and I would meet with her and her husband, they were always late. She refers to him as functioning on MST, or Mexican Standard Time. Which is an impolite why of saying he was always late. And not even consistently so. Sometimes it would be 15 minutes, sometimes more, much more. But for whatever reason, she puts up with it.

Personally, I couldn't stand it if Veronica was always late. But if she was, I'd probably become such an over-bearing ass that she'd kick me to the curb in no time...

So how about you, is punctuality that important? Are you or your spouse always late?

Hubman (NSFW)

14 comments:

MommyLovesStilettos said...

I was raised the exact same way. We were ALWAYS early, never ever late. And now it's a HUGE pet peeve of mine to be late. Drives me nuts!

Nolens Volens said...

My sister is so, SO late that we actually misinform her by an hour in od=rder for her to be on time. If we want her here at 4 pm, we tell her 3 pm. I do the same with others known to be chronically late.

Meagan said...

I am always on time! Lately, Hubby and I have been running late on social things that don't have an exact meet up time. Don't know why.

Shelle-BlokThoughts said...

I'm pretty much horrible with time. You would hate me. It doesn't matter when I start getting ready, I'm still late.

It doesn't bug me. It drives my husband nuts

If its something like work or something that has major consequences if u don't make it on time, then I can manage it. But I hate being first to a party or gathering so I'm almost always late.

I work on it for my husbands sanity...but I'm a late person.

I WOULD be late to my own funeral

Just sayin

And Mormons call it, "mormon standard time". Have a church party and starting 15 minutes late is normal.

Margaret said...

My husband is always late. It doesn't matter where we are going or what we are doing. He can never get anywhere on time and it bugs the hell out of me. I am always 10 to 15 mins early and with him I am always threatening to leave him lol

Danielle said...

I am the one who is always on time or early and it drives me nuts when people are late. I have however over the years realized that people are always late and can now deal with it without getting mad.

Trac~ said...

I am ALWAYS early - NEVER EVER late no matter what. Case in point - I don't have to be at the office until 10:00 a.m. EST but, alas, I am here daily by 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. at the very latest - it's a hard habit to break!

Missty said...

This is my one and only pet peeve.

I HATE being late. And I hate it worse if I am waiting for others who are late. It is the ulitmate rudeness. Fashionably late isn't fashionable, it is stupid.

Thank goodness, Matt is the same way. We are always on time. Always.

And to continue with this thought. Why can't the rude late people call? Seriously? Everyone has a cell phone, you can't pick it up and say we are stuck in traffic - we will be 10 minutes late?

Shelle-BlokThoughts said...

It's funny because being late isn't stupid it just makes u late...whether it's fashionable or not is subjective. If everyone was always early to parties, they would always start to early, the best parties are when people come trickling in...in my opinion.

I honestly don't sit around to be late, I work hard to be on time, I start early I try to put things in the same place, like my keys, so I'm not running around trying to find them.

And when I'm late to a party I really just don't care to be there at the first.

If I'm running late to something that people are waiting on me I DO usually call :)

Anjeny said...

I am soo totally with you Missty. In this day and age of cellphone, no one should be keep people waiting for them without letting them know.

I don't like being late but I'm not going into a post-like comment today since my version is coming up tomorrow. Love the post Hubman.

Cajoh said...

I always like to be a bit early, whereas my wife is almost always late. I find it rather amusing that whenever she sees me sitting around and asks if I'm ready— I can immediately get up, grab my coat and whatever else I need and be ready in one minute.

I tend to think that my wanting to be on time stems from my parents getting us up at 4:00 AM whenever we went on a trip.

Another Suburban Mom said...

I like to be on-time. However, when you have a 3 year old who DOES NOT want to go to day care and is very inventive of how she can hold things up, I just have to grit my teeth and deal.

OneZenMom said...

I am punctual to a fault.

This is probably one of the things that had been more difficult for me as a parent - dealing with the fact that, sometimes, with kids, you can't help but to be late. Stuff just happens.

But, I still strive to be on time. I think it's a matter of responsibility and respect to not keep others waiting. And, in turn, I find it ... unpleasant to be kept waiting.

The Husband is much more laid back about it, but still usually an on-time kind of guy.

My best friend, though, makes me crazy with her perpetual lateness. I've known her since first grade and I can't recall her ever being anywhere on time. I tell her all the time that I love her, but if I was married to her, I'd probably kill her. :) As it is, I always "pad" her time by 15 or more minutes. eg: If we are meeting for dinner at 6, I tell her 5:45. That usually puts her there at 6:10. :)

I suppose if the Husband were perpetually late, I would do something similar. But, I'm glad I don't have to.

DGB said...

I hate being late. I don't understand lateness. Know what I hate the most? People being late to their own parties or dinners.

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