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

I think 10-15 minutes early is fine, I wouldn't expect someone to go and find something else to do and wouldn't still be rushing about at that point, once you get to 30 minutes it's pushing it a bit, sometimes I won't even be at home by then. 10-15 minutes either side I am happy with, unless there's a reason it needs to be a particular time eg we'll meet at the station to catch the 9:05 train, I'd be very annoyed if someone didn't show up until 9:15 and would likely be on the intended train.

wow

what a gracious guest you are. I hope you never receive another invitation again with that attitude.

Reminds me of school events. Start time 5.30pm, doors open from 5, no entry before then - first parents park up and demand to come in at 2.55pm.

Absolute nightmare to have them milling around and needing supervision when you've got two hours of work to do before the main three hours' event starts and another one afterwards.

You've got a car, bugger off in it.

I am one of those people who are always early so spend lots of time in coffee shops walking around the neighborhood etc trying to kill time.

I had someone come in for an interview last week. She arrived in 45 minutes early despite telling me later that she lived a five minute walk away and had visited the premises a few times to get timings right. It was quite annoying as our reception area has very limited seating.

But reception of most workplaces isn't a public space. If you sit there for an hour and a half clearly someone is going to come and ask who you are and why you're waiting. No one wants you hanging around for all that time, and it's odd behaviour (as I said, quite sweet in a school leaver, but that's because it's clueless).

You go find an actual public space to wait until just before the interview time. That is the etiquette, and etiquette matters for interviews.

My husband’s mum and partner travel down from the north to visit us in the south occasionally and her partner (the driver) always refuses to tell us what time they’re arriving. He’ll just ignore the question or says ‘he has no idea’ whilst en route with the sat nav on - which is ridiculous.

They always turn up at least hour early (often way more!) and we’re never ready - I look a state and we’re just not ready to receive guests. Last summer they said they would be at ours for 6pm so we sat down to eat dinner (they’d already eaten) at 5pm and they walked through the door just as we served up! Drives me insane.

When they came down at Christmas we made sure we drummed it into them that it would not be acceptable for them to arrive early and we absolutely would not appreciate any early arrivals. They got stuck in traffic for two hours anyway and it was fabulous!

The party was at my house - back in the day when nobody had entertainers and soft play places didn’t exist.

There was nothing official to “start”, and there hadn’t been at any of the other parties the DCs had been invited to.

I agree, @Criteria16. If someone’s coming to my house, I’d rather they were slightly late tbh.

But if it 5 mins is actually nothing...why not just wait till the appointed time?

I'm usually early but that doesn't affect the other person. But I can't stand friends being late (unless there's a good reason).

Yes, of course they are - I'm early often - but I wait until the correct time to actually go and ring the bell/knock on the door. That 5 mins might have been the hostess's 'sprint to the loo' time!😯

From my experience of organising children's parties you just don't want early arrivals, thank you very much.

It's just being considerate of people who are already doing a nice thing for you by inviting you.

I'd say it depends on the occasion.

Arriving early to a meeting with a friend, or picking up someone, no.
But for work meetings, doctor appointments etc it's quite useful and appreciated. If the other person is already free it might save them some time, else there is normally a waiting room.

Early is WAY worse than late! Polite people arrive exactly (😂) 5 minutes after the agreed time.

Yes this is broadly what I do, and ideally expect from others.

We went to a childs party yesterday (Sunday) and was 5 minutes early. The mum I saw was huffing and puffing and looking at her watch. I nearly smacked her pink hair in the cake. Get a life. People are early

Ten minutes after the stated time is perfect.

I think we're in agreement. In previous posts I also said that a few minutes early or late is fine in my book. I get annoyed if the difference is 30 minutes or more.

Feeling lucky that noone close to me is an early bird! I was always told to be a couple of minutes late to give the host time to relax before receiving their guests

I'm one of those people who will always find an extra task they could do to fill up the preparation time, and getting myself ready is the very last thing I do as my focus is on doing prep that makes my guests comfortable in my home. Turn up early to mine and you'll be greeted by a very flustered host who may think twice about inviting you again!

Being early is worse than being late. Imo arrival should be approximately 5 minutes late. Gives the host a few extra minutes to nip to the loo etc

Parties are the one thing where I think turning up about 5 minutes early makes sense, usually the activity begins at the "start" time so it gives time for everyone to exchange presents and get ready for whatever they're doing.

Agree with everything you've said here .

I totally agree. Being early inconveniences the host as much as being late.

We have started telling my MIL a time 45 minutes later than the actual time we want her to arrive, otherwise she is 45 minutes early!

Well exactly. But I’ve been told it’s incredibly rude of me to be ok with friends being a couple of minutes early, that they are arrogant for assuming it’s ok etc etc.

Go on then. Explain what it is you think I don’t understand. Educate me.