Punctuality...is it no longer valued?

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Recently, at work, I've noticed that nothing starts on time; meetings begin about 10-15 minutes late, people show up late to meetings all the time, and on two occasions I had no shows for 1-on-1 meetings.

This phenomena started to get me thinking about punctuality outside of work. Last weekend, my friend Maria was planning a surprise party for her boyfriend Pedro. We were supposed to show up at the club between 10 and 10:30pm. I was there at around 9:45pm because I did not want to be that person to ruin the surprise. When I get there, the club wasn't even open yet. So I waited outside and talked with a couple of bouncers who were nice enough to keep me company. Time goes by and no one has shown up. I decide to call Maria to see if I may have gotten the plans mixed up.

Of course, Pedro picks up so I had to bullshit and keep my cool at the same time. I finally get Maria on the phone and she's able to get the message across that I did get things right and they were on their way. So I make my way into the club and get myself a drink. (I needed one by this time.) There were only a handful of people in the club; thankfully, one of the promoters was nice enough to keep me company.

To keep a long story short, at around 11:30 I see Pedro roll in with his brothers and friends. I do my best to hide; I make my way out the front doors and call Maria. She says they are pulling up. So 15 minutes later I meet up with her and we get the party started.

To get to the point of my story, I am wondering, is punctuality no longer valued? Meeting at 7pm doesn't mean 7pm anymore; it now means 7:30, maybe 8, or maybe even 9--it depends on the individual.

I think people should be more considerate and aware that if you make plans for a specific time, you should meet those commitments. If you're not able to, get in touch with the other person and let them know.

I'm not faulting my friend Maria at all. My own sister does this to me all the time. And honestly, if you take the time to pay attention, this lack of punctuality happens all the time--everywhere. It seems to have become an acceptable social practice--to be fashionably late. Personally, it signals a lack of organization and consideration.

So I propose that people become more aware and at least try to honour their words and not keep others waiting. I think this will do a lot to promote respect, consideration, and simply, an honouring of someone else's precious time; we all know there's precious little of it in a day :)