My mother always insisted that we be everywhere right on time. For the most part it was manageable- she was coordinating and rushing us out the door. At times though, we would run into last minute “issues” that would set us back. To this, mom would always say the following: “it is not polite to be late because you are telling the host/other waiting party that their time and rules do not matter and your rules and timing is what is important.”
To this day, I try to live by this rule within reason. Everyone has their dignity and their time is important. So if I’m going to be late for a meeting (or at times even a social event), I better have a good reason- something like the dog ate my car!
Let me preface this by saying I do understand that flexibility with others is key. We should all understand that others have their own lives to lead that do NOT include us. Therefore, as humans things come up that set us back.
I had a recent experience that set my entire day back. My lunch appointment showed up late. I often have a tight schedule. So I had allotted an hour for lunch followed by a 10 minute cushion and then a conference call. As a result of my lunch starting late, I completely missed my conference call and now have to wait two weeks to speak to that person again.
What does this have to do with our image? Well, I try my best to understand that others are busy, too. They may be late to meetings/lunches, etc with me.
However, it is our nature as humans to immediately form a judgment of a poor image of the tardy offender in our minds. We extrapolate to assume, they are unorganized, don’t respect us and just don’t have “it” together- their business and personally, especially if the tardiness occurs more than once. Believe it or not, it then takes the tardy offender a lot to overcome our impression of their image.
Tip: always allot at least ten minutes extra as “cushion” to your estimated time of departure, just in case.
Wishing you a fabulous image,
Katy
