to really really hate it when people say 'just leave earlier'?

[FedupofbeingtoldIcantusemyname]

With regards to being late when you are reliant on public transport?

Its not an issue for me at the moment as I have my own transport now but in the past I have had this said to me, and always by people who do not use public transport themselves.

For example: I was due to pick up dc's from school, Bus should have been at the stop for 2:30, due to get to the school for 2:50, school finishes at 3:15 so if the bus had been on time I would have been 25 minutes early - plenty of time.

On this occasion, the bus was very late and did not arrive until 3, consequently I was late. I get a telling off for being late (although I did phone and let them know), fair enough, but then the added comment of 'you should have left earlier'. It just drives me up the bloody wall! I couldn't possibly know in advance that the bus was going to be late so how could I leave extra time just in case?

Oops, posted too soon!

I live in a rural area so there is only one bus an hour and on this occasion I got a bus to town at a time that left me and hour or so to do my food shopping before going to get them.

I have overheard this same phrase said on many occasions to many people and it always drives me nuts. It is always, always said by people who drive and consequently can leave whenever they want and aren't reliant on public transport. Aibu to think its stupid and annoying?

YANBU. I had it said to me when my reason for it was my baby projectile vomited and we had to change and so missed the train. Apparently I should have accounted for that.

I agree, fedup, and another factor is that if you use public transport, unless it's a very frequent service, sometimes getting the previous one will get you there much too early. How much of a problem this will be depends on individual circumstances but there are times when being early makes life very difficult, especially if you've got babies or toddlers in tow.

It pisses me off too. I could leave at 5 am but my cm doesn't start til 7:30 and school breakfast club doesn't start til 8:00 so if the bus and tram after my last drop off don't run to time then I am late, and it doesn't matter what time I leave the bloody house!

Yes, of course Future, you should have used your magical powers of predicting the future and planned your journey accordingly

Seriously though, its soooooo infuriating.

you wbu if it happens all the time that you are late.
but how you describe yanbu.

Exactly, touched. I used to plan my mornings when I was at college with military precision - drop dc's off at breakfast club, get bus, get train, then another bus at the other end. If any one of those connections was late, I would be late and there was not a thing I could do about it.

I hear ya, OP.

The train/bus/Tube is supposed to take however long, say 30 mins. But that doesn't mean that it actually does!

Leaving earlier makes no difference, once you are on Public Transport you are at their mercy!

YANBU.

Doesn't help when you do leave early, and the train or bus is so packed you can't actually get on. Or they cancel the one with 8 carriages, the next one only has 4.

When I lived with my parents (after uni) I had to be at work for nine. The 8.15 bus should have got me there for quarter to. Nine times out of ten though, I'd be at the bus stop and four or five buses would go past without stopping because they were full, and if end up late.

It got to the point I was getting the 7.35 bus, which got me into town at 8, and hanging around for an hour in the town centre when nothing was open. Any later than that and I'd be buggered. Not too bad in the summer when I could mooch about on the beach with a book, but hideous in January when freezing sand was blowing around or it was pissing it down

Luckily my boss also got the same bus route so would be on one of the ones that drove past me. He always waved to say he'd seen me, so I didn't get in trouble for being late!

Captain, my Dsis has the same problem.

Bus leaves at 8:15, gets to town at 8:35, she has to be at work for 9.

Except the bus is continually either late or very early and will then not wait at the bus stop until the time it is supposed to leave so she ends up missing it.

Her only option is to get the 7:15 bus, leaving her stuck in town when nothing is open for 1 1/2 hrs!

I'm also in very rural town, one bus route that goes every hour. Bus changed timetable so it got to my work place at 9.02. I had countless meetings with boss about being 5 mins late, but the earlier bus gets there at 8.02. Work don't open up until 9, so I either had to wait around in all weathers for 55 minutes or get there 5 mins late. They wouldn't compromise for months, but now I have 5 mins less break to make up the minutes I am late.

Plenty of people in my office will be there for 8 for an 8.30 start, because of the trains. They just sit and get a coffee and have a chat, til we start at 8.30

But I appreciate in an office where some people would've already started work, that would be disruptive.

The last time I planned to be early (getting to work at 8.10 instead of 8.25) that train was cancelled and the one unusually get was 20 minutes late! So I don't bother much anymore

I probably wouldn't have minded too much if I was in a office environment where I could go and get a coffee, but it was a shop to which I didn't have keys, so no cosy staff room for me! Our 'staff room' was a camping chair in the cellar

Well, public transport is notoriously unreliable so in theory you should allow for that. Tricky if there's only 1 bus an hour

My current staff room is a chair in the kitchen Captain

I know exactly what you mean!

YANBU. DDs get an earlier bus than they need to for school and generally arrive about 45 minutes early. However, because they are still late once or twice a year due to the bus not arriving or other exceptional circumstances (trains down, accident on the road etc) they have been told they should get an even earlier one. The fact that they would then be at school one and a quarter hours early most of the time and would have to hang around outside the school until it opens seems irrelevant to some teachers.

Not the same situation but my train goes every hour, at the exact same times every day . The timings work out so I'm either 5 minutes late or 55 minutes early. I would get there 55 minutes early and wait around, so I usually walk the last bit which takes half an hour.