To get annoyed with this way of making arrangements.

[Sunshinegirls]

Whenever we make any arrangements with any of DH family, they always say they will arrive "mid afternoon" or "early evening" or "late morning". This really pisses me off! I want to know an actual time so I can organise things! What time does "mid afternoon" etc even mean anyway? Am I being ridiculous? It seems to me that they consider their time to be more important than mine.

DHs parents are also like this, so if it takes our fancy to go shopping, or to the pub for a couple- we can't! And we get the affronted "well, we might pop to the shopping centre/supermarket/craft fair etc". What if we decided we wanted to do something on a whim?!
And then there's "we'll ring when we set off"- which can be from there house (an hour away) or the shopping centre (10mins away).

We've just gone out before and set off when they rang us to tell us they were setting off- just to be told off when they were already at out, because MIL needed a wee and then I got a ribbing for "spending all of DHs money"

PIL are very annoying about timings. They say they're going to arrive "early evening" & turn up at 2pm! For the first couple of years, I said nothing but thought it was a bit odd; then I mentioned something to DH who thought I was a nutter before realising I was right & now we just find it quite amusing & come up with ways to outwit them so we'll go out for the day or something.
It was really odd at Xmas as they came down by train & had booked seats so knew what train they would be on. I kept asking for details so we could collect them from the station. Eventually, MIL told me they were leaving "around lunchtime". Even I was surprised when a taxi pulled up at 12.55. The train journey is over four hours! By strange coincidence, we happened to have panto tickets for that afternoon so left minutes later & saw them when we got home at 4.30 which should have been around when they arrived.

"Can I see DS today?"

"He says that's fine, what time were you thinking of?"

"I'll be over later."

"... What time will that be?"

"After lunch."

" Go and fuck yourself What time is lunch?"

"I don't know yet."

" Seriously fuck off OK, well DS might go out in a few hours."

"But I'm coming over later!"

Thanks so much for all the replies! It seems like this behaviour is rife! All the replies have calmed my rage/made me laugh and given me perspective! I have sent a message to DH's family saying "ok we will be in from 4pm" to deal with this current situation and will be more assertive in the future. Nice to hear I'm not alone in my rage! Sorry to hear there's so many tardy time stealing arseholes out there. Cheers MN :-)

Mmm to be on the receiving end of people who need exact arrival times is also rather grating
so you think your time is more important than theirs?

I think if someone has a long journey it can be impossible to know exactly when you will arrive but you can let people know when you set off.

OP I'd just keep repeating 'what time will you be arriving then' and insist they did their best to give me a time.

""ok we will be in from 4pm""

I think that that's all you can do when they won't be pinned down-let them know what suits you.

I think if someone has a long journey it can be impossible to know exactly when you will arrive but you can let people know when you set off
Absolutely. When a friend came to visit they did an 8 hour drive. We agreed late afternoon/early evening. They text when they set off and then they text again once they were about 2 hours away with a more precise estimated arrival time.
Polite and not assuming I have nothing else to do other than wait for them.

This fills me with rage too.

Eg will be with you first thing.

Now I am at at six with the children so first thing is definitely before eight.

By ten send a message to find out where they are to discover haven't left yet. By first thing they meant before midday

I really don't see what's so hard about asking for an exact time.