What do you think of people who are chronically late, esp. to work?

In My Humble Opinion
41

Actually, some companies have time clocks that are broken out into 6 minute chunks (like the one I punched 30 years ago).

My husband’s company had a policy for the last seven years. If you weren’t late to work AT ALL for the whole year, you get a $1500 bonus. My husband hasn’t been late in seven years. If it’s going to snow, he gets up at 3:00 for an 8:00 start time. Personally, I think this policy is dangerous, because tons of people won’t plan ahead and they’ll drive dangerously to get there on time. Not a good idea, but the point is, you CAN get to work on time if you care.

I never said anything about breaks or potty time. But it’s the same thing. If you’re expected to be somewhere doing something at a specified time (or taking breaks for a specified time), just do it. There are plenty of jobs out there that don’t hold employees to a strict schedule. And that’s fine. Seek one out! We’re talking about people who are expected to perform a certain way and fail to do it on a regular basis.

42

My early-arrival that I mentioned earlier includes the time to get a cup of tea. If you need a stimulant for work, build it into the schedule. It’s not a reason to be late.

They’re not good colleagues, either.

What about when nobody else can be flexible? Some of us have to stick to our schedules, no matter what. Should I make three schools have ‘flexible’ lesson times, in order to accomodate one colleague who can’t get out of bed earlier?

43

Any time sheets for my current employer (local government) requires all times to be in five-minute divisions, in decimal. They include a reminder on the reverse of the sheets of how the time divides up. :rolleyes:

44

Even if this is true, it doesn’t make you not late. Late is a factual statement, not a legal one. If you show up at 9:01, you are… bear with me here… 1 minute late. If you show up at 9:14, you are 14 minutes late. If you are the relief for a coworker, that person has to sit in his chair, working, for an extra 14 minutes, yet you claim you are not at all late.

There are many work situations where being a few minutes late is no issue, in those cases I hesitate to claim a person is late. If your schedule is flexible, then you are not “late”, you are starting your day at a different time than usual.

If a social event has a flexible schedule “come over to my party, it starts at 6, will go all night” then you’re not “late” you came when you meant to.

If an event has a fixed time, scheduled work hours, scheduled social events, then it is rude and inappropriate to show up later than the designated time.

45

I used to be the same way.

When I was just a child.

Mom and Dad where in charge back then and would get me where I need to be on time.

Why? I just don’t get this. How could an adult not consider these things. I think they do.

They just don’t care if they inconvenience others.

46

Being late can really hold you back in terms of leading anything. If you are leading a project, and are always late to the project meetings, that sets the tone, that no one, not even you, cares enough to show up on time for the meetings. If you want to be something other than a drone, it pays to master punctuality. Yeah, I know there are a fair number of senior managers who are chronically late. But don’t think it doesn’t demotivate their teams.

47

This is my #1 problem with employees at work. First of all, you’re told at the interview that we do NOT have a flexible work schedule. You’re expected to be at work at 8 AM and we do not offer flex time. That is non negotiable. Once you’re hired, we repeat this information at orientation.

It drive me crazy. Dallas is a big city. There is traffic EVERY day. I know the train schedule quite well. I’d be willing to live with once a month tardies, but of course, most of these offenders are late 3 times a week.

Being late shows me you value the snooze button more than your job. If you’re tired in the AM. then GO TO BED EARLIER. There’s been times I’ve clicked off Monday Night Football because I had to get to sleep.

If there is a truly extraordinary situtation, then tell me and HR. I can work around rare situations.

I also hate it with social situations. I hate being late. I honesty tell people, “If we get there at XXX time, then we can find parking.” 30 minutes later and then we have to search for parking forever.

I know that life happens and you have no control over dead batteries, a complete freeway closure, or some rare situations. Still, to me, 8 oclock means 7:55 not 8:45.

48

I concluded that he simply never formed the habit of doing so. He can plan backward if he tries, but it’s a special thing for him, not something that happens automatically.

Don’t get me wrong - I certainly agree that keeping someone waiting for even a few minutes past an agreed-on time is decidedly rude, and citing habit in no way excuses the rudeness (“Assume a virtue if you have it not.”). But I think that punctual people (like me) tend to interpret the behavior of the chronically late as deliberate, in-your-face rudeness when it often is more like mental sloppiness. That does not mean it must be tolerated.

49

That depends on where you are working in. In the military, your actions aren’t going to be appreciated, because you are suppose to work in a team. Keeping to timing is important.

The next thing is whether you are being paid by the hour, or paid just by work alone.

And as many has said, if you are to relief anyone. Especially if you are reliefing someone from an all-night shift. They do want to get home quickly, and you are wondering why they are yearning for a bite of you when you come in “just ten minutes late”.

Oh no, but a manager don’t think that way. Deviance from the norms could mean a lot of things. One could be that you are not interested in the job. Second is that you ignoring all the rules laid down by management, and they wouldn’t appreciate that if everyone start turning up late, using you as an excuse. Third, like it or not, when meeting a big important VIP, telling them “Hey, it’s just a few minutes. Don’t get your panties twisted up in a gigantic figure of eight note! And here, I bought some pies!” is not likely going to get a good reception.

50

I, too, am one of those chronically early people. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been late a few times (overslept, accident shutting down road, etc), but as a rule I generally get stressed if I don’t have a “time buffer”. In other words, I always allow extra time to somewhere.

I am this way in both social and work situations. It irks me no end if people are chronically late. It irks me for all the reasons listed above; basically it’s thumbing your nose at others’ time. My nephew is awful in this regard. We literally tell him to be at our place an hour earlier than anyone else, and he’ll still arrive an HOUR after everyone else has arrived. Not a big deal if we’re just hanging out, but if we have to actually go out with reservation times, I get pissed. I’ve pretty much quit inviting him because of this.

51

You roll your eyes, but if I had a dollar for every time we had to explain to new people how to fill out the time sheet in quarter-hour segments…You’d think people would understand that if you normally put down 7.5 but you’re 15 minutes late you put down 7.25, but they want to put down 7.15 every damn time.
Anyway, regarding the OP. I plan to be to work exactly on time. I hate being at work any minute longer than necessary in the morning (staying late isn’t as bad) so I typically arrive less than 3 minutes before my day is supposed to start. Once in a great while, maybe once a month or two, I’m a minute or three late.

In general I don’t mind it if people are a couple minutes late, even if it’s a daily thing. However, people who arrive at work daily 10-15 minutes late annoy the hell out of me. Perhaps, mostly, because I’m responsible for figuring out if they’re actually coming in that day, which requires speaking to vapid receptionists who take two months to figure out my name despite asking it every day…of course, they never know anything either, so going to ask them is a pointless requirement.

52

I also am always early and it is because I backward-plan (how long will it take to get there, how long to park, get a cup of coffee, etc.) And I always build in a few minutes of buffer. But I am also not willing to be inconvenienced by others so if I have any control over things at all, I always start whatever it is on time. If I have called a staff meeting for 2, it starts at 2. If I am part of a group meeting for dinner at 7, I am seated at 7 and am perfectly willing to order when I have decided what I want and I don’t wait for the late folks to roll in. I worry that accomodating the lateness reinforces it and I would not want to do that.

53

In my call center, you have three minutes after your start time to be in your seat. The first five minutes after your start time are for review and logging in. If you get in three minutes late, that leaves you two minutes to log in, review and start taking calls. You can’t log in to all our systems in two minutes, and I’ve tried–there are too many different programs which need to be up and accessible at all times and the server can be notional. My best ever login time start to finish is 2:23. Our call center gets paid BY THE MINUTE that an agent is in a seat, logged in and available for calls. Every minute somebody farts around getting in to work late is a minute we don’t get paid for by the client. There is a contractual obligation that our center WILL furnish enough bodies to ensure a given number of billed minutes per day, and the client doesn’t listen to ANY excuses, so why should management?

I am never late. If something has happened, flat tire, snow, what have you, I call in at least ten minutes before my shift starts to let them know what’s up. That being said, in the last five years I’ve had to call in to be late exactly four times. I have to drive 25 miles each way to get to work and I start at 0600.

People who constantly come in late really piss me off. If I can do it, so can the rest of them–it’s not like I’m expecting something impossible or something! No call/no shows are a TOTAL mystery to me–how in the hell can anyone just kinda sorta forget to go to work and also forget to call in?

Traffic is the excuse? Blow me. I spent many years as a delivery driver fighting all kinds of unexpected traffic in a couple of different states and I got my stuff delivered on time or I had my dispatcher on the phone letting the recipient know what’s up. There’s a word for couriers who are late–UNEMPLOYED! I’ll tell you what, though, I loved having other delivery people for friends–if we planned an outing and we all agreed to meet somewhere at 0500 to be on the road, everybody would be there at least five minutes early, all ready to get going, and at 0500 we were damned well on our way.

Habitually late people are thoughtless, lazy, arrogant, disorganized, heedless, clueless and rude. Pick any combination of the above which suits you and feel free to add your own. Millions of people manage the simple task of making sure they get places on time and those who don’t have no excuse–not that they aren’t just FULL of them. Spend as much time getting it together and out the door as you do justifying your lateness and making up lame excuses and the tardiness problem will vanish, guaranteed.

Can’t handle life in the 21st century? Go off and live in a tiny shack in the woods and stop annoying the rest of us who understand that a complicated world requires scheduling and the cooperation of all of us to keep it working.

Shitheads.

54

I worked in a Network Operations Center, and was not allowed to clock out until the person from the next shift came in to take over surveillance duties. There was one guy who was habitually late. I complained to him, and his response was “Hey, it’s only 5(or 6, or 10) minutes, what’s the big deal?” I brought the matter up to the shift supervisor, but no action was ever taken.

So, I started putting in for overtime every time he pulled his little stunt. Since the minimum time increment for payroll was 15 minutes, that meant an extra 22.5 minutes(time-and-a-half, doncha know)on MY timecard. Of course, management didn’t like paying out that extra money one little bit,and soon the the dude’s tardiness ended. It was replaced by extreme surliness…

55

I’m the opposite. I like getting to work a bit early. Usually about 20 minutes. Never a worry about being late. Traffic is never a problem where I live, but weather can be. I hate having to rush. The buffer allows me a nice leisurely, stress free morning.

I’ll put the coffee on and read the local paper.

On the other hand, I hate staying late. Luckily, it’s never been required.

56

I am one of the chronic late people, I didn’t use to be, but I don’t sleep very well and where in my 20’s and early 30’s I could live on 4 hours sleep and a lot of coffee, now in my late 30’s I can’t. So I almost always oversleep and go rushing like a madman. Additionally I can’t drink coffee much any more due to chronic stomach problems. (No spicy food, no coffee and I know full well I’ll pay hard for drinking too much, so never on a work night)

It is disrespectful and shoddy but I really can’t get on a normal sleep schedule for any amount of time. I am embarrassed by it as I use to always be on time or even early. I usually take short lunches but it still looks bad and is bad.
I am also out sick 6-10 times a year but I burn vacation time and work extra hours to make up for it. I will never get a perfect review because of these problems but otherwise I get excellent reviews for my coding work, help desk support and Project management. My skill set is good enough that despite continual lateness (probably 2-3 times a week) I was retain when we went from a 6 member IT staff to a 3 member IT staff.

I guess to make up for the problem I just can’t control, I work extra hard at everything else.

Jim

57

My current Job is afternoon shift , or 2nd shift as you call it. As for being easier , if your late on afternoon shift then you have a time management problem. When I worked Dayshift , I found that I had no social life and was constrained by the fear of not being able to wake up , given my tendency to deep sleep. Where I work is 20 minutes away in good weather , so being late means I am automatically a half hour late in a company with no sense of humor.

Some things you cannot plan for , we had a gravel truck over turn on one of the freeway onramps , closing the highway for several hours and diverting traffic over to the secondary roads , some of our people had no idea how to get to the company , on these roads cause they use the freeway exclusively.

Other than that , weather is not as much a big deal anymore , as you are wide awake and driving in daylight conditions , so a check of the roads and loading up on Coffee, gas and smokes will generally ensure a longer but more pleasant trip , than waking up for dayshift at some ungodly hour like 3 am.

Declan

58

That’s great! If everyone did this, tardiness would be a thing of the past.

59

IIRC, VCO3 works for Starbucks. So yeah, I would say him being 10-15 mins late there would piss everyone off. Like people have said, that’s prime coffee time, and his colleagues would have to pick up the slack and be wondering where the hell VCO3 is.

I have a friend who is consistently late. The least time he’s ever been late is 1/2 an hour. He once picked me up 1.5 hours late because he was playing WoW. He almost lost a friend right then and there. He once picked me up 45 mins later than we arranged for an exam we both had.

60

I am always ridiculously early (to the point that I annoy myself with it) and the reason why is because I’m terrified of, or hate to, inconvenience anyone else. Add to that it being drummed into my brain my mother, Shitler, to never make her wait for anything, you have a recipe for me forever spending a half hour reading, roaming or people watching.

But I really don’t mind overall, because getting someone right on time drives me batshit with stress and the feeling of being rushed. To stay in sanity mode, I have to do a ‘settle in’ routine with a potty stop, setting up my day stuff, whatever. I prefer languishing rather than worried.

As to other people bothering me with their lack of punctuality? Well, if it’s something that has a concrete start time (like a movie), then I’d simply go without them if it was a film I’d been dying to see or a special occasion (like an Aerosmith concert with tickets purchased at some ungodly price). Just casual dining or shopping, I don’t care, as long as we’re not talking two hours here. In work, I’d only mind if it constantly put others out and dumped extra duties on me to the point that I couldn’t perform my tasks up to the standards that the clients deserve. So overall, I’m pretty laid back about anyone but me. :slight_smile:

However, my one peeve extends to said mother… she of the “never be late” business to the rest of the world has quite a bit of an issue following her own directive. Amusingly (not!) enough, this doesn’t seem to register with her and she’s got plenty of excuses as to why it’s no big deal, this or any other time. Needless to say, when she gets her comeuppance via a loved one messing her schedule up, I way far enjoy the schradenfeud (or however you spell that – damn google didn’t help).