To think that people who arrive early are as annoying as people who arrive late?

I had this just recently. Flying overseas with a family member, not leaving for the airport until midday and there's a knock at the door 8.30 am - the heck!?! To be fair, they live a couple of hours away and the highway between us and them is notorious for accidents and holdups, with the detour adding a couple of hours to travel time but still. I sat her down with a cup of tea and ikkies, the previous day's newspaper and the telly remote but it completely threw my preflight routine out the window. Worse, I didn't spend the usual time I would on my hair and had to fly with suboptimal hair, waaaah😅

I would rather people be late than early. If you’re hosting there is often last minute jobs or clean up and an early guest just adds to the stress.

No, that's the SLT member who won't hear of anybody potentially upsetting a parent. Or of being the person who babysits, naturally.

Yes! My (petty & narcissistic) MIL once turned up an hour early to see my children on their birthday, all to avoid seeing her ex-husband. She also brought a random friend with her to our house and seemed surprised that I answered the door with wet hair. The actual party didn't start for 2 hours and she had already been allowed to come early because (supposedly) she'd double booked to go a theatre matinee. It was their 5th/6th birthday so not a new date to her, she was just so desperate not to see a man she'd been married to 30 years previously that she didn't care how inconsiderate she was being. All about her, as usual. As it normally is with those who are consistently late or early! Selfish gits.

Anyone that doesn't send the person away under those circumstances their own worst enemy.

I hate this too. My brother was a chronic early arriver. I could guarantee that if he said he'd be round at midday,he'd arrive at 11.30am. in his eyes,if you arrived on time,you were late. He worked in a supermarket, doing an early shift,6am - 3pm. He lived a 20 minute drive from work,yet he used to set off for work at quarter to 5!

I wouldn't mind trolls, if at least they were funny. They're not even infuriating, they're just boring. What's the point of that.

😂😂😂😂

Bye hun

oh, you are on a wind up! I get it.
It's not even a rule, it's basic manners. Even my kids know that.

ok...

It is.

That definitely is the rule!

Wow you're a really bad friend. That's not the rule 😂

Super guest but if you piss me off then you'll know about it. Have a good evening hun

People being late stresses me. Early people don’t - I’m organised early, so no worries 👍

I don't mind if people are a few minutes early but if I'm inviting them round I'll usually give them a decent window - eg come for dinner and we'll have a drink at 6.30 and aim to start eating at 7.15 so arrive anytime between the two. It allows for flexibility with public transport and means that most people will aim to arrive for 6.45-7 and gives them a bit of a buffer with traffic etc. We have very good friends who if we meet up in town are always early but they go off and find a cafe etc and just text and say that's what they're doing and to text them when we get there.

I would have sent them away.

In a way it kind of depends on what type of event it is and where you're meeting.

But if you're talking about someone coming to your house for drinks or dinner then I agree that being early is very rude. If the invitation states 7pm, I would never arrive before 7pm, and even arriving on the dot of 7 would feel wrong. I would aim for about 7:05, to be sure the host is ready.

If I'm hosting, I'll make sure to be ready by 7pm, in case any guests arrive on the dot, but I wouldn't expect anyone to arrive before that and it would throw me off.

@Thepeopleversuswork oh don't get me wrong, I'm not going inside if I'm 10-15 mins early. I'm sitting in my car or having a look in nearby shops or just sitting on my phone. I will then only be 1-2 mins earlier than discussed, so the other person would never know, they'd just think I was bang in time. But for my own sake I always give myself 10-15 mins to loiter outside because those 10-15 mins give you grace if something out of your control happens to delay you!

Yes, Dh is this person. He is a people pleaser and socially anxious, and thinks everyone invites us to things expecting us to be early and he drives us all nuts stressing us out to leave really early so everyone will be happy that we are there early, and then we turn up and our hosts are still washing up and don’t even have a clean glass for drinks yet and it’s so awkward. 😩

It must be genetic because bloody MIL is the same. Says she’ll be here at 11am and then surprise she’s here at 9am and we’re all this in pyjamas and I just wanted to drink my coffee first!

@BobbyBiscuits 😯 What on earth was their thought process! Had they come far?

@chargeitup I've had worse than an hour. I had a group of six people turning up at 5.30pm, for a party that started at 8?!!
Thank fuck there's a pub over the road from me. Else they'd be sent all the way home again! 🤣

I have a relative who is so paranoid about being late that they arrive at everything at least an hour early, and even two hours ahead has been known. They don't have to come from far away to anywhere and we keep trying to explain that it's as rude to do this as to be late but it falls on deaf ears.

Have a friend who texts me
"I'm here" when she arrives 10 minutes plus early at arranged location.
Bit annoying because by default I then feel guilty or even late because
I'm not there yet because on the way to arrive at agreed time....