Being on time

[k3am]

Does your workplace culture emphasize being on time? 

I am, in general, a very, very punctual person. If something starts at 8am, I'm there by 7:58 so that I'm ready to start at 8am. I just think it's polite. DH and I have purposely been working on getting me to loosen up about it. If it's a casual thing, and someone says "oh, come on over around 5", I try not to freak out if we're running behind and don't get there until 5:15. 

But at work.. it drives me nuts. We have a standing 8am meeting. I'm there and ready to go by 8am. But I'm the only one there. Crazy boss lady walks into the meeting (that she herself scheduled!) at 8:01 or 8:02, spends a few minutes fiddling to get the computer up and running, dialing in to the conference line, etc.. and we're lucky to start by 8:10. She's also one of the first people to complain about the fact that our analysts are consistently late to work. 

In my mind? If she wants people to show up in a timely manner on a consistent basis, she's got to respect the fact that we have a clock. If she wants to call an 8am meeting, she needs to be ready to start.. AT 8am. Not 8:05, not 8:07. And if she's scheduled a meeting for 8am-9am, the meeting ends at 9am. Not 9:10 because she started ten minutes late for no real reason.

I don't know if I'm being realistic or not though, or if I'm just being extreme. Or if I'm just finding reasons to complain because I'm sick of working here / with her. 

[psutexan]

It's definitely a cultural thing at workplaces. I also think people let it depend on their rank in the company. The most senior person in our meetings is always late. They can blame it on being scheduled in back-to-back meetings but maybe they need to instruct their admin to schedule time between meetings. If I'm leading a meeting, I'm like you, in early to make sure the equipment works. I try not to be more than a minute late if I'm just an attendee. I don't have the rank

[pitta12]

I'm like you, and hate to be late. My office is pretty laid back and internal meetings rarely start right on time, and virtually nobody is in the office right at 8am. I am trying to adapt to that mindset because I have a long commute and the self-induced pressure to get here on time every day causes unnecessary stress that is not helpful, but I struggle with it. Anyway, in your case I could see how that dynamic coupled with the annoyance you already have with your boss would make it more infuriating than usual.

[alioop1028]

Agree with everyone else. It's office culture. I am also obsessively on time and get so irked when other people are not.
My office has to conference call with other offices on the opposite coast so we are always early for those calls because no one wants to look bad. But no one is on time for internal meetings or even getting to work on time and I hate it. Especially when it's a busy day and I need things to start on time so I can make other meetings or finish projects. I'm with you on it being a politeness thing. It's like people who are late feel like their time is more important.

[Divefrog]

It depends on the situation for me. If we have a build event scheduled, I am very upset if people are not on time and ready to build/run our equipment and assembly line on time. The person running/hosting a meeting should always be on time, barring a true emergency. These two instances are times I always build in extra buffer time and make sure I plan to be early.

However, for other meetings I need to attend or conference calls, a 5-10 mintue grace period seems reasonable. We end up with a lot of back to back meetings and you just can't be in two places, or on two different conference calls at the same time. If one ends at 9 and the other starts at 9, I can't be on time everywhere. We also have unforeseen things happen on our production floor that require our attention and can delay us, or pull us out of a meeting early.

We basically have a work culture that supports you prioritizing where you need to be and when. It is perfectly acceptable to walk-in and out of meetings to make sure you are there for the discussions that pertain to your area, and leave when they move on to another area.

We also have company established "core working hrs" of 9-3. Some people come in at 6 am and other's not until close to 9, some leave at 3 and some not until 6, so no one can really tell if someone is "late/early" arriving or leaving.

[clarkebar1013]

I agree with everyone. I just felt like I had to state my two cents, and that is how much I hate it when people disrespect your time. Like their time is more important. It's total lack of respect. If a meeting is at 9:00 am, be there ready to roll by 9:00 am. I understand, (and I think most people do) that it could happen once or twice. But when it becomes a normal thing to just pop in late like it's no big deal, UGHGH punchintheface mad.

[jil]

That would definitely be frustrating, especially if it runs over because other people were late.

I work in a hospital and our meetings usually start on time. There are always a few people who trickle in 15 to 30 minutes late but it is presumed that they got caught up in something medically necessary. On the rare occasion that our meeting start late we still end them on time.

[ellabee]

If I'm running a meeting, then I'm always set up and ready to go when it's scheduled to start and my expectation is that others do the same. I agree that people shouldn't expect their meeting to run over just because they got started late. Or be the one to complain about other's tardiness when they can't be on time either.

Outside of work, and after having LO, I've gotten a bit more relaxed about being somewhere right on the dot. I used to be super stressed about being even the tiniest bit late, but I'm trying to let it go a little - especially when I'm taking LO places. If it's just me, I still try to be early.

[McBenny]

I don't think it is cultural. I think habitual lateness is rude. If she wants to account for lateness or give people some "time" schedule the thing for 8:15am. That shit pisses me off cause then I have to sit there and wait longer because I was on time.

For meetings and things that include other people, I feel there is no excuse. For general arrival times, that could be left to the company, etc.

[sudokufan]

Our rule is, no 8am meetings. And don't expect people to get to your 1pm meeting on time. And if you call a 4pm meeting, expect a few people to leave early. I like our culture :-) Mostly serious - we start our day at 8am but our "core hours" are 9-4, and I appreciate that people give each other slack there. I'm generally here 15-20 minutes early, but on bad weather days I can easily be 5-10 minutes late because I can't drop off at daycare any earlier to compensate for the expected long drive.

But, hypocrisy annoys me. If crazy boss lady deplores tardiness in others, she needs to walk the walk.

[jlaok]

I think that being late to meetings is unacceptable.

Day-to-day I'm not super punctual with my work times but I also WFH and we all are really flexible with our schedules. But if we have a meeting you better be on time and I'm perfectly fine with that.

[2chatter]

I am neurotically punctual.
If I worked in a brick and mortar office I would need to be medicated. I often have days that are 7 hour blocks of 30 minute calls, so zero time to relocate from one conference room to another or back to my desk in between calls.

I usually start larger calls at 3 minutes after.
One on one calls I ping the person at one minute after to ask if they are joining if they are at my level or below. I IM people (before the next meeting starts when possible) if I will be even 1 minute late. I do that because I think the culture point you make is important.

It is also something I address in 1:1s with my team and managers - managing up where needed.

[nolagirl]

I am always ready to start my dept meetings on time. I'm usually waiting for the therapists to arrive for the meeting, but am understanding with about a 15 minute window bc we are in a care based setting and shit happens.

Our facility meetings never start on time and it's always the most senior people not prepared. Typically they are outside smoking. Can. Not. Stand. It.

[arkansasmom22]

I work for a large company and it depends on the department and their Senior Leadership. For instance my DH had old coworkers who rolled in late, left early, and no one cared because their SLT didn't pay attention to it unless a major meeting was missed. However my old SVP was a stickler for our work day being 8-5, he expected you to be at your desk at 8am. One girl I worked with was always coming in late and it ended up getting her in trouble. I have always had the philosophy that being early is on time and being on time is late, so much so that in high school one day I wasn't at the restaurant I worked at 10 minutes before my shift and they called to make sure everything was okay. I understand being a minute or two late due to meetings running over and what not, but habitually late people drive me nuts.

[Divefrog]

Jan 26, 2015 12:08:24 GMT -5 sudokufan said:

Our rule is, no 8am meetings. And don't expect people to get to your 1pm meeting on time. And if you call a 4pm meeting, expect a few people to leave early. I like our culture :-) Mostly serious - we start our day at 8am but our "core hours" are 9-4, and I appreciate that people give each other slack there. I'm generally here 15-20 minutes early, but on bad weather days I can easily be 5-10 minutes late because I can't drop off at daycare any earlier to compensate for the expected long drive.

But, hypocrisy annoys me. If crazy boss lady deplores tardiness in others, she needs to walk the walk.

You would not have liked the standing 6:00am department meeting my old boss had EVERY SINGLE Monday morning.  Thank goodness my current boss is much more lax. 

[sudokufan]

Jan 26, 2015 12:40:59 GMT -5 Divefrog said:

Jan 26, 2015 12:08:24 GMT -5 sudokufan said:

Our rule is, no 8am meetings. And don't expect people to get to your 1pm meeting on time. And if you call a 4pm meeting, expect a few people to leave early. I like our culture :-) Mostly serious - we start our day at 8am but our "core hours" are 9-4, and I appreciate that people give each other slack there. I'm generally here 15-20 minutes early, but on bad weather days I can easily be 5-10 minutes late because I can't drop off at daycare any earlier to compensate for the expected long drive.

But, hypocrisy annoys me. If crazy boss lady deplores tardiness in others, she needs to walk the walk.

You would not have liked the standing 6:00am department meeting my old boss had EVERY SINGLE Monday morning.  Thank goodness my current boss is much more lax. 

Yeah, I couldn't have taken that job.  I mean, I'm up for the day at 5:20, but my daycare doesn't even open until 6:30 and it takes a few to drop off and transition a toddler, and then I commute 45 minutes.  I just like our rule that you don't start meetings at the exact time people are expected to be here-it gives everyone a chance to check email, check their inbox, get their notes or whatever.  Sometimes updates get sent after everyone leaves and it's useful to have that time to bring yourself up to speed.

[doodler]

I work in a school but my department has 7 people in it. We have once monthly meetings and we are constantly having to track someone down. It drives me nuts. We also have once monthly all staff meetings and we routinely sit and wait 5-10 minutes for admin staff to start the meeting. I consider it rude and it's a major pet peeve of mine.

[k3am]

I'm not so worried about time when it comes to showing up at work. Particularly since I work flex hours, if I show up at 6:45 vs 6:30, no one gives a rat's ass. Well, no one even notices. But when I have a meeting and no one's there? Annoying.

Crazy boss lady wants our analysts in the office at 8am exactly, and staying until 5pm exactly. If she wants to be a clockwatcher, I feel like she needs to do it across the board, not just when it suits her. I notice when our analysts come mainly because of past behavior.. when one of them started coming in at least an hour late consistently and was reprimanded, I would have expected at least a couple of weeks of her showing up at 8am +/- a few minutes, but not 30.

[tas1883]

I hate being late. We open the office at 8 but I hardly ever schedule an 8am appointment usually I will delay it to 8:15 with the thought process of traffic. Normally we are here 5-10 minutes early. I get really annoyed at clients who show up way early or way late for their appointments as it bogs us up. Luckily I know which are the worst offenders and schedule larger gaps between them and others to avoid the waiting room pile up.
DH is horrible about time management. He never wants to be late and prefers us to be 30+ minutes early to everything which doesn't work with kid events. He still doesn't get it and waits very impatiently for me to get ready to go to an event that starts at 4 is 10 minutes away and he is ready to go at 3. Drives me nuts. I now try and schedule play dates or dinner dates with friends as 5ish knowing that crap happens and 15 minutes before or after happens.

[queenbabee]

Another habitually punctual personality here. My grandmother taught me to be 15 minutes early to anything except a party and I make a point of it. Since I work in a primary care clinic, patients are late alot and if they call, I'm pretty relaxed about it (it's tough getting places with kids, sick or well) I have very little tolerance for coworkers though. You know your hours. They are always the same. For the chronic late arrivers and early leavers: get it together!
Thank goodness, we never have meetings.

[Pevensie]

At my office there is a hierarchy of who is allowed to be late to a meeting and by how much.

Clients can be late and it's fine - they're paying for the time. Partners can be a little late because they are often rushing from meeting to meeting, but if they keep a bunch of people waiting for more than 5 minutes there's usually a big apology and a reason. Associates are late as soon as the clock hits meeting time.

I follow the rules because time is a commodity here, but lateness doesnt bother me a whole lot personally. I can usually find something to fill the time.

[clarkebar1013]

I had to interview a possible new hire with a few other co-workers recently and we've been so busy at work that I just did not want to do it. I wanted nothing to do with the interview. BUT, I am pretty sure she had the nervous "I'm going to talk too much" jitters b/c after awhile I started to think of what I could be getting caught up on and what still needed to be done as she was talking and talking and talking. I feel bad now thinking back, but she was so nervous. I wanted to say, "you answered the question perfectly fine a good 3 minutes ago, and now I'm lost and have no idea what you're talking about...at all." Now I feel like one of those D-heads who think their time is so important. Luckily she had no idea what I was thinking, and we will probably give her the benefit of the doubt and hire her.

[supertrooper1]

I was just thinking about this today because a lot of my new coworkers are what we call "bell ringers" walking in at a minute before we're supposed to start. I work shift work law enforcement, so when I started 10 years ago, our boss was big on getting here 10-15 minutes early so you're ready to work right when your shift starts and you relieve the person who is supposed to be going home. That gives you time to put your lunch away, finish getting your gear on and chit chatting with coworkers. Even though we have a different boss that doesn't emphasize getting here early, a lot of people still do, but that culture has kind of gone away.

My own personal opinion is that you're showing your boss that you don't care about your job if you're showing up late. When people are late elsewhere, I think it shows that they think their time is more valuable than mine.

[twinmomma]

My need to be punctual actually borders on OCD, according to my therapist. haha So yes, I am very conscious of meetings starting on time. My work however, does not care even a little about meetings. They're notorious for rescheduling meetings after the original start time has come and gone, which to me just stresses out my OCD brain and strains my already packed schedule. It drives me nuts that people are so casual about start times and meeting windows, but at the same time, I do appreciate it when I'm running late in the morning and show up 5 minutes after 9, which to me is super late, but to my coworkers is generally still early. 

[tig594]

Also one for being on time. I HATE it when people are late, especially to meetings/events/outings THEY planned. Waste your own time all you want, but don't be rude and waste mine. I have family members I rarely plan things with anymore because they couldn't arrive on time to save their lives. It's always always always last minute with them and it drives me nuts.

[CurlieWhirlie]

Where I work, this would be no big deal at all. Totally par for the course. And it wouldn't even bother me at all, except for the fact that it's 8am. That's AM, people. That's early and it can be really hard for those of us with kids at home to get out the door with all of our clothes on and into the office at that hour. So if this was a 10am meeting and everyone was coming a little bit late because they had just come from an earlier meeting, or it was 1pm and everyone was coming in from lunch, I'd say totally normal and nbd. But since she's the one who scheduled it at 8am, I would assume that it's damned important to her or she wouldn't have scheduled it at such an ungodly hour, and therefore it's bullshit that she herself gets started consistently late.

[wink568]

I'm one to be punctual to the point where I'm the only one in the conference room for a minute or two. At my work, it can be a challenge to be on time. Most positions can work from home 3-4 days a week (not mine, unfortunately). There are certain days of the week that all people on a particular team or office come in, and since people tend to prefer face to face meetings, I feel like those days are filled to the brim with meetings. The meeting host doesn't really take this into account and schedule a buffer or anything, so people are running from one conference room to the next. It's pretty typical for a meeting to start 5 minutes late.

[ontherock2012]

I'm a bit OCD when it comes to punctuality. It seriously throws off my whole day if I'm even a few minutes late.

[wesleycrusher]

DH and I commute to work together. I like to be there at 8:30 but he usually runs late since he knows I don't have a hard start time and he doesn't have to be at work til 9.

I work in outpatient psychiatry so when we have staff meetings (rare) there are always people running late from appointments going over and such.

[bond007]

I'm in Early Intervention and we are always running late from appointments and meetings running over. It's hard to be punctual when you're dealing with kids and families. I'm only in the office one day a week to do evals and meetings, and I do try to at least start the day off on time. The rest of the week, I drive from house to house and I also try to be on time but can't always account for random traffic jams. I assume it's the same for the rest of the therapists.