By Erin Haselton –
There’s nothing like staring at your clock watching the minutes go by as you wait for a date to meet you for lunch, while your lunch hour shrinks. Or the client who is scheduled for a 3:30 appointment and is late thereby pushing back your departure to coach your son’s soccer game into sudden death overtime.
I may be going out on a limb, but I think it’s safe to say most do not like having to constantly wait for people who are perpetually late. There seems to be two sides on the issue-a pet peeve for some, a habit for others.
How do we as combat the issue besides silently seething and forwarding the clocks of the tardy people in our lives? My thoughts are friendly reminders. In some cases, for events, there may be a miscommunication as to what time the event starts that has them rushing in the door to attend. When it comes to coworkers and colleagues, reminders for commitments following your allotted meeting time may help reinforce the dedicated time slot.
The bottom line is when tardiness becomes a habit, it sends the message that time with your meeting date is not of any importance or value. Flip the habit by making a point to leave for any engagement 5-10 minutes earlier to allot for traffic, phone calls and general life. Worst case scenario is that you sit in your car and catch up on emails by making use of the surplus time.
And while I can’t control the medical industry as a whole, my advice is to get the first appointment of the day, that way you are guaranteed little to no delays in seeing the doctor on time.
Time is money, and we could all use more of it. Make a point of remembering we’re all on a schedule, and ours is of no more importantance than our lunch date’s.
Story by Erin Haselton/FullertonStories.com
Erin Haselton is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton. She lives, works, and plays in Fullerton-living near the downtown. Mrs. Haselton coordinates events at the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce and visits Ace Hardware on the weekends for projects on her 1925 house, home to parties and barbecues now and into the future. Emily Post, Will and Kate, and Scarlett O’ Hara inspire her own everyday etiquette.
Everyday Etiquette appears every other Monday.
As someone who is self employed, and works around the clock to keep clients happy, I know the value of time all to well. Thank you for giving such good advice Ms. Haselton!