How to cope with chronically late people

Time waits for no one / photo courtesy flickr user blue2likeyou

(MoneyWatch) COMMENTARY I'm an almost comically punctual person. It probably stems from a certain pessimism: I assume there will be traffic, that there will be long lines at the airport, that it will take me a while to find the conference room, etc.

Of course, some people seem to have a more optimistic view of the universe. They are always shocked that there is traffic (on a Friday afternoon in the rain -- who would have thought!). They are sure they can crank out those last three emails before the meeting that's scheduled to start in 30 seconds. Today it will not take any time to fire up the computer to get the phone number for the conference call that's starting right now.

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Or maybe it's not optimism. Maybe these people just feel their time is more valuable than other people's, and they feel important when they make other people wait for them. Whatever the cause, they are chronically late.

If you work closely with such a person, how can you minimize the delays for everyone else?

1. Always do the dialing. Never let this person call you -- because the call will not happen at the scheduled time. While there's no guarantee she won't be on another call that has (what are the odds?) run late, at least pro-active dialing means the odds of an on-time start are in your favor.

2. Be crafty on scheduling. If you really need her to be on time (say, she's giving a presentation), ask to meet her personally at 12:30 before a 1 p.m. meeting. She'll still be late, but you can use the time to prep, and at least she'll likely be on time for the bigger meeting.

3. Keep yourself comfortable. When meeting in person, get this person to come meet you before going somewhere else together. That way, at least you're in your office, able to get work done.

4. Give intermediate deadlines. She'll probably blow through them, but missing a deadline for one chunk of a project by two days is better than missing the deadline for the entire project. You can build those two days into your reserve time for the project.

How do you cope with chronically late people?

Photo courtesy flickr user blue2likeyou

[ludvig1-2009]

I grew up in the country and was always punctual meaning if they said to meet at a certain place I was there at that time and then I'd wait like an hour or more for every other ballplayer to show up so we could drive to the game. When I was in college I had a couple of instructors, in psychology and basic electrical engineering who didn't care if you showed up in class or not, so I never went to class except for the tests. The one exception I dropped into the psych class and the instructor was giving us a demonstration of what a manic depressant personality was like and I was ready to drop the class as I thought he was nuts until he said he was just putting on a show. In the electrical engineering class I could do the node voltage equations and Thevenin's theorem stuff alright but was a complete klutz with my hands while a friend could install a sound silencer on a Tv with headphones so as not to disturb other students and he was mad that he got a B and I got a B too.

[anonymous010]

I'm an instructor at the college level. It really bothers me when students are late to my class - particularly when they are more than 10 minutes late. At that point, I'd prefer they not come at all. They do, though, because every school I've ever worked at will drop a student who misses too many classes, but has no similar punishment (or policy, for that matter) for students who are too frequently late without a reasonable excuse. One of my past supervisors wouldn't even allow me to set up my own tardy policy for my classes - clearly he didn't have a problem with students being late. Call me old-fashioned, but I think students who walk in late more than once or twice a semester should be penalized. They're adults now - they should be able to show up for class on time.

[Cigar_Smoker]

This is such a ridiculous problem on the Gulf Coast I would swear I was back in the Virgin Islands or Jamaica! Whenever someone around here says the want to meet at a certain time my response is always the same, "Call me when you're in the car and on the way".

[chucksyl]

Never start a meeting late to "wait until everybody gets here." If you accommodate the latecomers, they'll figure it out that the meetings actually start at 10 after. Then they'll start arriving at 20 after. Let the late people be late. Don't punish the punctual.

[hypnotoad72]

"Produce or perish", probably...

[voxpopulus]

Fire them. It's as easy as that. Chronic lateness is selfishness.

[AOCGUY]

I dont deal with late people. My meetings start on time and being late doesn't get you a catch up later. Like employment, an education, a spot on the team? Be on time. Cant make it - cant use you. Period dot.

[john92021]

I am always on time and sometimes early, my wife is always late. To me being late is disrespectful. To keep my marriage together I have learned to give up. We are going to be late, it is a given, sometimes I can lie about the start time but usually we are still late. Now that I have accepted it, it is not that bad. Maybe I'm too uptight anyway, besides it is not my fault for being late. I get ready and read a book, play on the computer, whatever, I and everyone else knows we are going to be late. I dread planes but I don't fly much anymore. Employees should not be late, fire them.

[erasmus111]

Why are you using "she"? Surely it's not always women who are late.

I will never be late, but I will also never be early. I hate getting someplace early. I will arrive one to two minutes early. It's always worked out. I've never had something happen where it made me late.

[voxpopulus]

Maybe not, but all the chronically late co-workers I've had HAVE been female.

[anonymous010]

I'm guessing that the chronically late person that Ms. Vanderkam was thinking of when she wrote this was female.

[random_thought]

ok i am late some times. and its as lori said i see the clock say 10 min brush my teeth comb my hear let the dogs out ... and bam 15 min later where does the time go.. but when i do get to work i bust my butt on my lunch i put a new battery in the company car. i have worked though breaks and meals even though my company demands i clock out.. so in short i more than make up for my lateness

[DWileyOne]

Baloney ... it's not about "making up for your lateness" ... it's about being courteous and considerate of your family, friends, and co-workers.