On Time

I have a thing about being on time.  Maybe it's because my father was always on time or that he was 15 minutes early for church every Sunday.  If I am late I feel very uncomfortable.  So I try hard to be on time.  Not everyone feels that way about being on time.  I schedule and attend an average of 10 meetings per week.  Today I had 5 meetings.  Some people are early.  Some people are late.  Some people are so late that we don't even think about them not coming until 10 minutes have passed since the meeting was scheduled. I like people who come on time.  I even like people who come a little late as long as they eventually make it. One paid professional I know often doesn't come at all.  She doesn't say she isn't coming.  She just doesn't show.  If I call and ask where she is her office says she is checked out to be at my location and should be there soon.  She still doesn't show.  And if she chooses to come to the next meeting six months later, she acts as if she never missed the last meeting. She gives us no acknowledgement of her absence and no apology.  One family I know shows up 30 minutes early and is very anxious to get the meeting started even though it's too early.  This is the family that taught me it can be as rude to be early as it is to be late.  Another thing I learned is that the people who are the most apologetic about being late are the ones who are usually politely early or on time.  Today we had a meeting that was scheduled last month.  The meeting didn't happen last month because one person didn't show.  So we rescheduled for today. The person who missed last month came and he came early. He apologized.  He said he had a brain fart.  He said he felt terrible.  And he (this is a first) gave us Caribou gift cards as an apology for wasting 45 minutes of our time last month.  I told him not to worry about it.  For years this guy has been leaving work early to attend meetings with us and he has always been reliable and on time. I gave him the Caribou gift card back and said I really appreciated the gesture.  His apology was all I needed.  I'm pretty sure he won't be late again; at least not if he can help it.