If I meant that the meeting should start at 2:15, I would have scheduled it at 2:15, not 2:00.
Regards,
Shodan
PS - No, we are not going to repeat what we already said. Get it from the minutes.
That’s why I love CA. Meeting? When? Okay, I’ll be there about 2 PM. We know full well there’s a 15 minute grace period to cover traffic, parking and noobs getting lost.
“Lunch at noon” means everyone sits down to a set table and starts to eat at noon. American Midwest.
I always told my kids, better to be an hour early than a minute late.
I find life is less stressful if I budget ample time. Sometimes I have to cool my heals for awhile because I’m too early. I’m okay with that.
As a lawyer, it’s important. Some judges are very unforgiving about lateness. You don’t want to walk into a 9:00 hearing at 9:02 and see the judge on the bench just waiting for you.
North-east part of the state where I’m originally from most people tend to run early; here in the south-east its more dead-on-the-button to a little late. Around here being on time seems a lot less stressed than it did back home but some of that could be time and memory as much as actual fact.
Midwesterner here. I was raised in the “if you’re not 15 minutes early, you’re late” category. I also work for a 24 hour operation that has to be staffed. If you are late, I can’t leave, so having that as a driving force in my career has spilled over into my daily life. I am early to on time always and have little patience for people who can’t do the same. I understand that sometimes things happen, but they don’t happen every flippin’ time you are driving on the road!
No way man! I know I’m an insufferable time Nazi, but were I a noob or just someone who needs to drive & park, I anticipate reasonable delays and possibly getting turned around, and budget that time in. We are to meet at 2:00? I will be there at and before 2:00. Hell, I might even get there early enough to reserve us a better seat.
Why yes, as a matter of fact I will be in the job market in a few months. 
I would say my personal sense of the importance of being on time is calibrated slightly higher than the local average. I hate being late, I get twitchy and feel a bit sick if I’m late for all but the most trivial things. I know plenty of people who have absolutely no qualms about being half an hour or so late though.
It’s not very consistent even within my family, so I’m not sure I can account differences to regional variation.
I’m the same way, I see being late as being disrespectful of other people by wasting their time.
I don’t get this at all. Why specify a time if it’s meaningless, or it means a different time than the one specified? If I say noon and you don’t show up until 1:30, you’re an asshole, and I will never count on you for anything ever again.
I don’t understand it either. Best I can figure, from my Viburnum experience, is that spending time with family & friends is more important than adherence to the clock. Be here to slaughter a doe at 11? That just means that the coffee will be ready at 11, show up when you can, we’ll slaughter the doe after we’ve “visited” for a while.
I’m from New Jersey. On time means on time. I live in Atlanta now, and I’m considered to be anal about time as being on time is more an idea than a specific thing.
My family is South Asian. “On time” there is even worse. My dad is a time stickler - he’s very different from the rest of his family/culture. I remember at my brother’s wedding the time of the reception was 8pm. He was getting pretty pissed when at 9pm the reception hall was still a ghost town. I may have learned some of my time anal-ness from him.
Midwesterner here - I, too, am in the “be on time” camp, if not 10 minutes early.
However, I do get infuriated when, in a very causal situation, someone starts demanding an exact time. As an example, when I’m on vacation I do not have a designated start-up time for waking up in the morning (unless some particular activity is planned). This drove my mom crazy - she’d spend up to 15 minutes every night when I stayed at her place trying to get me to commit to a wake up time - and with her, you’d be woken up to the second. It’s like she couldn’t wrap her head around the notion of NOT using an alarm clock to wake up at a specific, designated time, of just sleeping until your woke up on your own.
I’m from New England (originally) and I would fall in the “better an hour early than a minute late” group. However, I live in the Southeast now and have had to get used to “approximate” times. My family will make reservations for a family dinner at a nice restaurant and I just know that I will be the first one there. Everyone else will trickle in over the next 15 to 30 minutes.
Two incidents in particular:
We recently planned to scatter the cremains of my mother in a public area that closed at 6:00P. My niece, who lived the closest and was the motivating force behind the scattering ceremony, casually texted us that she and her boy friend were running a bit late. In fact, they would have arrived well after the area was closed for the day. We had to move the ceremony to the following day. No apologies.
Years ago, my wife was being treated for a brain tumor (radiation and chemo) and so was physically rather weak. Her family scheduled a birthday dinner for a family member for 6:30P. My wife and I were there at 6:30P precisely. Nobody else showed up until 7:00P and the remaining family members showed up at 7:30P. This left my wife and I either walking around, standing, or waiting in the car for an hour. (There was no seating for people waiting to be seated at a table.) Again, there was not a single apology to my wife or to me about the delay. It apparently made no difference to the family that she had a terminal brain tumor and was too weak to even stand for more than a few minutes. We never received a text or call to let us know that anybody was delayed or on their way. No ETAs or explanations. You can probably tell that it pissed me off a bit.
Not in my part of CA. An 8 am meeting means everyone has their coffee and in the meeting room by 8 am, ready to start. You’re expected to know the traffic and plan accordingly.
As for informal gatherings with friends, we’re more flexible. Let’s meet at the restaurant at 5:30 means, you’re not really “late” until maybe 5:45. If you text or call that you’re on your way, it’s usually fine.
My marching band director lived by “To be early is to be on time; to be on time is to be late”. If practice started at 3, that meant you were already on the field, in formation, ready to start by 3. Anyone who wandered in at 3:01 learned quickly - running laps around the field was not fun.
At dialysis, my time to be there is by 520am. The techs then have 20 minutes to get me hooked up. It drives me batty when they casually open the door at 530. I make a point of being there by 515. Give me the courtesy of you being on time; otherwise, everyone behind me will be delayed.
I’m another “Be on time” Midwesterner. If I’m not five minutes early, I’m annoyed with myself for doing it wrong.
My wife’s family is in Virginia and, beyond whatever lethargic notion of time passes there, are also from South America. “Let’s meet at 9am” means “We’ll roll by somewhere between 11am and 3pm”. It bothers me each time because we invariably never wind up doing what we wanted to do and often wind up doing nothing at all because it takes forever for the gang to get together. I’d handle this by saying “Screw 'em, if they’re not here we’ll go alone” but then it’s all “We wanted to spend time with you while you’re finally in town” and guilt trips on the wife so I just stew silently.
That’s awful. So if you really wanted them to show up at 9am, would you have to tell them 4am?
Punctuality has always been important in my family. I expect it from the people I associate with and will drop those who don’t think being on time is important. Part of the reason is that both my wife and I have busy schedules, and being half an hour late is not compatible with getting things done. Some people describe being chronically late as being spontaneous. They do not want to commit to plans until the day of, perhaps they will get a better offer. We consider those people unreliable.
I remember a business speaker state that for business events he traveled to, he would always choose a hotel within walking distance of the meeting. That way if there was traffic or trouble getting a cab, it would not stop him from being on time for the meeting.
This is a point of contention between my husband and I. I am a firm believer that being late means being rude and disrespectful. By being late, you tell people that your time is more valuable than theirs. My husband, while very punctual for work, does not have this feeling for social events. He gets mad at me that I’m anxious that we aren’t out the door and says something like “We don’t have to be right on time.” It drives me crazy.