To get irrationally irritated by waiting for latecomers when I’ve made the effort to be on time?

It's rude and arrogant and disrespectful of other people's time.

This has happened to me a couple of times, people with the appointment before me turning up late which meant that my appointment would then start and finish late too. Very annoying.

"Clearly", eh?

Nope, but nice try (I guess?). I am at director level in my job which always means I have to be punctual and have two children who are never late for school.

Just because I don't get worked up about latecomers, it doesn't mean I am a latecomer myself. For me, it's an inconvenience that is overwhelmingly meaningless when all is said and done.

How do you manage to finish on time if you wait for everyone to arrive?

I agree with you. Things should start on time. It's a courtesy to be on time says someone often late herself. But I need to learn to not try and jam 101 errands into my life

So you're one of the ones who's always late then, clearly.

OP YANBU. People won't learn unless they miss the start of things due to being late. If the world slows down for them, they'll always take the piss, it's rude.

YANBU!!
Lateness is my biggest pet hate! Especially when there's no real excuse for being late, just that 'oh sorry I got up late'. Nah, your time is not more valuable than mine and I won't wait for you.

There's a woman down my street who is ALWAYS late bringing her kids to school and I see them all running down the road to school 10 mins late every morning 🤦🏻‍♀️

I had a wonderful lecturer, who, far from waiting upon latecomers, would start the lecture on time, and when they wandered in, would stop it, to tell them to turn around and leave, and next time be on time. Dear Professor Finn. . .

By the end of the second week, everyone had got the message - be on time or don't come at all.

"Traffic" is only really a genuine excuse when something particularly rare and unusual has happened such as a major accident that's blocked the road and caused severe congestion.

Busier than normal traffic due to school start/finishing times, or just general traffic volume in places that are always busy really isn't a valid excuse as it's entirely foreseeable.

I completely agree! It's so frustrating to be on time only to have to wait for latecomers before the thing can start. There's a definite arrogance to it I think - people who give no thought to inconveniencing others.

Starting on time only inconveniences the latecomers. Waiting for latecomers inconveniences everyone else.

Yanbu!

I'm a self employed tutor and have to be really assertive about time keeping other than for genuinely unavoidable emergencies.

I don't extend lessons if a student turns up late and if parents pick up late more than very occasionally for a genuine reason I threaten to move all their lessons to online. It's always the sane parents who are the issue and it's always 'circumstances completely out of their control' until they realise what the consequences will be.

In my opinion, traffic, running late, getting lost, being on the phone, forgetting the time, losing track of time etc etc are really not unavoidable or beyond someone's control (excepting SEN).

They barely apologize and will do it over and over if I let them.

Funnily enough, when they realise they've had a shorter lesson, or I might stop offering face to face sessions for them, they stop having these 'circumstances' and start to show a little respect for other people's time.

I’m consistently late for a weekly yoga class at the moment. Because I value my time working up to the second and don’t mind missing the lame relaxing bit at the beginning. I do acknowledge it’s rude to the teacher and perhaps the other people in the class (although I do try to sneak in very quietly) and def do not want or expect the class to wait for me. To me that 5 mins working is a better use of my time.

I completely agree! It's so frustrating to be on time only to have to wait for latecomers before the thing can start. There's a definite arrogance to it I think - people who give no thought to inconveniencing others.

I’d say ‘10 minutes? I’ll just get a coffee then’ etc and do just that, or whatever I want to for 10 mins. Then you get the benefit of being in time, getting a good seat, and not wasting 10 mins.

but what happens at the end? Does the presenter stop at the advertised time, so there's no time for the Q&A, or she has to cut some of her material? Maybe she has to stop, if the room is wanted for another meeting, or there's another speaker waiting to present.

Or does she keep going, but the last ten minutes is disrupted by people creeping out because they need to be somewhere else, and they miss the conclusion of the presentation or the Q&A.

I’d say ‘10 minutes? I’ll just get a coffee then’ etc and do just that, or whatever I want to for 10 mins. Then you get the benefit of being in time, getting a good seat, and not wasting 10 mins.

5 minutes leeway I don't usually mind but sometimes the waiting does take the biscuit. I had the first of a 5 week class booked in yesterday with my 3 year old. 30 minutes we waited for the last mum to turn up as she had rang to say she was lost... The kids there (luckily it was a very small class and only 4 of them) were running feral bored out of their minds at this point and when we started they didn't want to engage obviously and the rest of the session was massively rushed. It was a disaster. The leader had the nerve to say don't turn up too early next week as it's hard on the kids waiting...

I am super punctual, honestly it's one of my very few qualities.

I don't get pissed off by other people's approach though, I have no control over it. Some people are just late, at least it's relatively harmless. I can always find something to do to pass the time.

I can't stand it. Its so rude. I make sure I leave more than enough time and have a kindle with me to read once I arrive at my destination if I am overly early.

I don’t mind up to five minutes. That’s a small buffer for very minor delays. More than that is frustrating. I run a book group and always get interrupted by people letting me know someone has texted that they’re running late and can we wait for them, as well as others crashing in 30-40 minutes in. So annoying.

The worst was on a group day trip in Iceland a few years ago. There were all sorts of warnings to be at the bus station at x time. Turned out that was just to get everyone assembled on time - nothing actually was going to start for another half an hour, regardless of whether we were all there. Half an hour passed and the tour leader told us we were going to wait for a couple who were late. 40 minutes later they arrived and we finally departed. The whole day was rushed because of the late start. Infuriating.

I completely agree with you OP. I have a clinic where I see between 8 - 13 people a day. Latecomers drive me mental. Even worse are the ones who arrive 15 mins late and who are then cross because I can't fit them in before the next appointment.

It's not irrational to be annoyed that everyone has to sit around because some people are late. I have it with clients quite often and I always love it when whatever person at the client IS on time decides we're not waiting for the late comers.

Wow, what a great idea!

YANBU. I ensure I get to things early. So when I've been sat there already for a while, it annoys me that the event/meeting doesn't start on time and I have to wait even more for stragglers to come in, and usually they show no urgency, i.e. sometimes we have training courses where if I get a window seat, I can see the car park, and there are people farting around tidying their boot/back seat, talking on the phone, etc., rather than actually getting to the course which should have already started, and then they just lazily stroll across the car park, before finally slovenly coming in to the room.

Yes, I know shit happens, and once or twice (in 40 years!) I've been late myself when there's been severe traffic congestion after a bad accident, but I'd never expect the meeting/course start to be delayed, and accept that by arriving late I'll have missed the start (and the best seats!).

I understand it is a little different for social events - such as a dinner party but for a school event I would expect it to start on time

For a dinner party I would expect people to be on time. If the invitation is '7.30 for 8.00', the host will have the food ready to begin serving at 8.00 and will want all guests seated by then. Being (avoidably) late is inconsiderate.

Drinks and a cold buffet is different, guests don't all have to eat at once and the food won't spoil.

That gives me the rage too! I made the effort to be here on time but now you are going to waste my time by leaving me just sitting here so you can cater to people who are late!! 😡

Meh, I’m always late for things I don’t give a shiny shit about.
I’m on time for things that make it to my Very Important list but otherwise I am just naturally late. Not very late, but especially with work things usually up to 5 mins late.

I don’t expect anyone to wait though.