Chronically late people are a pain in the neck

One of the things I have had to deal with are people that are chronically late or dawdle around and make me wait.

I can not for the life of me figure out why people do this.
There are an awful lot of people that do not understand the concept of being in the right place at the right time in the proper attire. This is something I notice does not happen very often at work, but it seems there are an awful lot of people outside the work place that have a hard time with this.

I have never had this problem and readily admit that do not understand it. Even as a young man I didn't really tolorate it very well.
I recall one time I went to pick up a date. I knocked on the door which her dad answered. He led me into the living room. I glanced at my watch and waited about ten minutes and then wordlessly left, hopped into my car and drove off.

This was the third time she had kept me waiting and I simply decided I wasn't going to waste my time continuing any reletionship by spending my life waiting for her.

A couple of days later her dad met bumped into me at the Rexall and asked me why I left so abruptly. He accussed me of standing up his daughter. I told him that she had stood herself up and it was the third time she had kept me waiting and enough was enough.

"But isn't my daughter worth it?" he asked. The old guilt trick and I wasn't going to fall for it.

"No," I said simply. He didn't expect that answer. He went agape. "Why should I want to go out with someone that isn't interested in me?" I continued.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"If she was interested in me she would be ready when I showed up." I answered. "It's really quite simple."

He seemed upset. "Good things are worth waiting for," he countered.

"Good THINGS are," I replied. "Good PEOPLE are on time. Period."

In a way it was sad to see a father have to realize that his daughter was really nobody too special. She was simply like everybody else. I'm sure he had put her up on a pedestal and here I had come along and knocked her off of it. He looked pretty upset.

With that I returned to my business.

One of the truly satisfying things I remember about basic training is watching people learn to be where they are supposed to be and when they are supposed to be there. It doesn't take a good NCO long to teach that lesson and it is generally pretty amusing to watch. Just about every trainee learns that lesson pretty quickly. There are an awful lot of people that ought to learn this valuable lesson.

About a decade or so later I was back in the area for a while between swashbuckling adventures in Alaska and other far flung remote outposts and happened into her father again. He told me his darling daughter had married but the marriage wasn't doing well. I said nothing. I wasn't surprised.

Over the years I have had many good things happen to me simply because I was on time and everyone else seemed to be late. When I was working in Kodiak building houses I was always punctual and employers took note of it. One carpenter that was a little faster than I was once griped when I got a pay raise and he didn't. He pointed out he was a little faster and therefore deserved a raise, too.

He was told that I was the one he could count on to be there ready to go to work and that in the long haul I was more valuable.

Being able to be in the right place at the right time has been a big part of keeping me out of the bread line. I have heard it said that it is a somewhat unusual trait. In my opinion that doesn't speak very highly of the human race.


my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/