webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2010
All rights reserved
From: Merhawie (merhawie@gmail.com)
Date: Sun Nov 07 2010 - 16:03:40 EST
http://gregsavage.com.au/2010/06/07/no-you-are-not-%E2%80%98running-late%E2%80%99-you-are-rude-and-selfish/
No, you are not ‘running late’, you are rude and selfish
This post may offend some readers, recruiters or not. But only because it’s
going to cut close to the bone for many.
And I don’t care if I sound old-fashioned, because actually it’s nothing to
do with ‘fashion’ or ‘generation’. It’s got everything to do with basic good
manners and respect for other people.
So here goes… How did it get to be “OK” for people to be late for
everything?
Because as far as I am concerned, it’s not OK.
In recent years it seems that a meeting set to start at 9 am, for some
people means in the general vicinity of any time which starts with the
numeral ‘9’. Like 9.30 for example.
People drift in at 9.10 or 9.20, or even later. And they smile warmly at the
waiting group, as they unwrap their bacon sandwich, apparently totally
unconcerned that others have been there since five to nine, prepared and
ready to start.
10 people kept waiting in a meeting for 20 minutes, while some selfish pratt
who idles his way via the coffee shop, is actually 20 minutes times 10,
which is 200 minutes wasted – while you keep us waiting because you did not
catch the earlier bus. That is over 3 hours wasted. By you! How much has
that cost the business? Shall I send you an invoice?
And an arrangement to meet someone for a business meeting at a coffee shop
at 3 pm, more often than not means at 3.10 you get a text saying ‘I am five
minutes away’ which inevitably means 10 minutes, and so you wait for 15 or
20 minutes, kicking your heels in frustration.
And often these ‘latecomers’ are people who have requested the meeting in
the first place, are asking for your help, or are selling something. Fat
chance mate!
And of course this has massive application to the recruitment industry,
where lateness is both commonplace and hugely damaging to your personal and
corporate brand.
And it’s not only business.
Why do people, invited for a dinner party at 7.30, think its cool to arrive
at 8.30? It’s rude. It’s inconsiderate. And it’s selfish, as I witnessed in
a coffee shop near my home one weekend. Three “ladies who lunch” (a species
not confined to, but heavily represented on, the lower North Shore of
Sydney) were chatting loudly at the table next to me. One inquired what time
the ‘drinks do’ was that night. The reply for all the world to hear was ‘Oh
7.30, but we won’t get there till 9 because by then it will have warmed up
and all the interesting people will have arrived’. Nice. Imagine if everyone
took that view. Cocktail parties would start at 3 am eventually.
Or a dinner at a restaurant where I was meeting two other couples. My wife
was away, so I was flying solo. I arrived at two minutes to eight for an
eight o’clock booking. At 8.20, I was into my second glass of Pinot and at
half-past I got a text saying ‘on the way’. We finally were all seated at
8.45. There were not even attempted excuses from either of the two couples,
who seemed oblivious to the fact I might actually have got there at the
agreed time. Meanwhile I had put a huge dent in the bottle of Pinot, and was
ready to go home.
And it is not that we lead ‘busy lives’. That’s a given, we all do, and it’s
a cop out to use that as an excuse. It’s simply that some people no longer
even pretend that they think your time is as important as theirs. And
technology makes it worse. It seems texting or emailing that you are late
somehow means you are no longer late.
Rubbish.
You are rude. And inconsiderate.
And I act on it to. My dentist kept me waiting 50 minutes not long ago. I
walked out, past a literally open-mouthed receptionist who had never seen a
patient act on their frustration, only to get a frantic call from the
dentist herself as I got into my car.
Sure she was “busy”, another patient took longer than she expected, blah
blah.
But hold on, I am busy too! I would not keep her waiting 45 minutes if she
came to see me as a candidate. And yet I am HER customer. I told her I have
been coming to you for 15 years but don’t take me for granted. See fewer
patients in a day if you have to, but see me on time or close to it. She has
never kept me waiting again.
Me? Am I ever late? Sure, sometimes. That’s inevitable even with the best
intentions. But I never plan to be late. I never ‘let time slide’ because my
stuff is more important than yours.
I am not talking about the odd occasion of lateness. I am talking about
people who are routinely late. In fact, never on time. You know who I am
talking about!
And certainly I consider serial lateness a character flaw which I take into
account when working out who to promote, who to hire and who to count
amongst my real friends.
It’s that important.