Comment by flerchin

2 months ago

Heh some people are on time, some people are late. It's seemingly a culture thing, and neither side understands the other. You say "of course nobody will stop at 9:50am" and that is exactly what I would do.

27 comments

flerchin

Reply
apercu  2 months ago

> neither side understands the other.

Being late is viewed as rude or lacking respect for others by a lot of people.

Do people who are habitually late view prompt people as rude for being on time?

  • jghn  2 months ago

    > Do people who are habitually late view prompt people as rude for being on time?

    As someone who tries to be prompt to a fault, I can see that yes there are people who get annoyed at promptness. It's not that you're a bad person for being prompt. Rather you're a bad person if you start without them or otherwise push back on their lateness.

    • tilne  2 months ago

      I think to some extent some of the pushback is the prompt folks not understanding that sometimes lateness isn’t something they can control (e.g., meeting with important set of stakeholders that you can’t duck out on early ran late)

      5 replies →

  • shermantanktop  2 months ago

    Not everywhere is like wherever you are.

    https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-dec-11-tr-insid...

    Non-punctual cultures can view on-time people as clueless, over-eager, and annoying.

    • throwaway2037  2 months ago

      The exact opposite can also be true, so not much is being said here. Try being late to a meeting in Germany or Japan. It is disrespectful.

      Are there any highly developed countries where the business culture is still "non-punctual"? I struggle to think of any. In short, if you have two businesses side-by-side, and one operates more punctually, then it will probably out-compete the other. To be clear, I'm not talking about social culture. Yes, Italians might be late by an hour to go to dinner with friends, but I doubt people in Milan will be so late to a sales meeting with client.

      1 reply →

  • SoftTalker  2 months ago

    In my experience the people who are late are usually senior or exec types who arrive late with a lot of bluster and comments about how busy they are and then "Ok where are we?" like they are taking over the meeting.

  • thaumasiotes  2 months ago

    In my experience, being on time isn't viewed as rude, but it is viewed as a nuisance, reflecting poorly on other people.

    I had a Chinese tutor who got pretty upset that I would show up to lessons before she got there. Her first approach was to assure me that it was ok if I showed up later. Eventually she responded by showing up very, very early.

    In a different case, I had an appointment to meet a friend, and she texted me beforehand to ask whether I'd left home yet. Since the appointment was quite some distance from my home, and I couldn't predict the travel time, I had already arrived, but upon learning that my friend dropped everything to show up early... and asked me why I was so early. I don't see a problem with waiting for a scheduled appointment if I show up early! But apparently other people do?

    • 0cf8612b2e1e  2 months ago

      Presumably the tutor was being paid. If you arrive late, you are cheating yourself of your full time slot. Unless the tutor operated on a model of, “45 minutes starting whenever we are both here”.

      1 reply →

  • buildsjets  2 months ago

    I view people who show up too early as rude, as do many others.

    • jghn  2 months ago

      The beautiful thing about being an early bird is you don't need to "show up too early". You just hang out until you're exactly on time and then show up. There is no analogue for the late person.

    • jxjxn  2 months ago

      I don't get why you are getting downvoted

      If an interviewee is half an hour early to a meeting that is rude if they actually expect to start now instead of the scheduled time

      4 replies →

  • rdtsc  2 months ago

    > Do people who are habitually late view prompt people as rude for being on time?

    No. Not for meetings. What is perceived as rude is making a big deal about it. You think it's a major social faux-pas, they think it's a "meh", and if you make a big deal about it and get offended now you're just being rude for no reason at all.

    For personal and informal meetings, yes, being "on time" may mean annoying the host a bit. Why? Because when they say the party starts at 6pm, everyone should understand it as they should start showing up no earlier than 6:30pm etc.

    I am not saying I agree or take side with any of these, just presenting it as both sides see it.

  • Loughla  2 months ago

    I was accused of not having enough to do by a boss. He was habitually late to everything. I am at every meeting 3 to 5 minutes early, because I leave every meeting at the :20 or :50 depending. Then I have 5 minutes to pee or whatever before going to the next one.

    Either way, he saw me get to meetings a few minutes early and legitimately accused me of not having enough to do.

    That was one of two jobs that I've ever walked out of.