S/O If you are on time you are late

DH says that a lot but I don’t live my life by that school of thought. I like to be maybe 5 minutes or so early but not much more than that. DH likes being 15-20 minutes or more early and I hate having to hang around doing nothing that much additional time, especially if it means I’m leaving my pets (or kid) home alone for that much longer. I believe in building in a small time cushion but the key word there is small.

I will say though that it’s hard to be anywhere on time if my kid has to go along too. She is the very definition of poky and she can drag out any task to take way longer than it really needs to take. That does drive me nuts. I mean, does it really need to take 20-25 minutes daily to swallow two pills, sniff a sinus inhaler and brush one’s teeth? I think not. 

I feel like if I am clocking in at work, I need to be a bit early so that I am ready for work.
If I am meeting friends, I figure on time is on time, but I do like to be a bit early.
Sporting events, you need to be in your seat on time.

Some businesses believe that 5 minutes early is on time and “on time” is late.
Our time clock at work allows a 2 minute grace period.
Our old time clock allowed 3.
I personally go by 2 minutes early to 3 minutes late is on time.
We can clock in up to 2 minutes early and I still go by the 3 minute grade period.

I hate being late, i find it very stressful especially for important things like GP appt etc. I will always try to give myself a time cushion when possible.

I have to work hard to be on time. It seems there's always one more thing I think I can get done before the meeting/appointment/meal date etc. I do try hard to be on time, but I'm rarely early. That makes these experiences I had recently stick out in my mind.
Recently I had two experiences where I was hosting. First one at work I was in charge of a large, important virtual meeting. I was ready 10 min early and planned to spend the 5-10 min before others dialed in testing screen sharing with someone external to the company. Well one participant dialed in 10 min early so I couldn't run my tests with the external person now that they were in the virtual meeting. (I realize I could have set up a waiting room and then admitted people, but I didn't think anyone would dial in 10 min prior to a virtual meeting.)
The other was a dinner I was hosting at a restaurant. I got there 20 min early to make sure we had been given the right table (physically accessible) and then to help my guests be seated in a place that would help conversation flow in this diverse group of 12. Well the restaurant seated me in the bar while they prepped my table. This was fine, I didn't expect the table would be ready 20 min early. But then they DID NOT COME GET ME. So after 20 min I went to check in with the hosts and it turns out the table was ready and they had already seated some of my 12 guests at it without coming to get me. So my opportunity to gently direct the seating was lost. I was very frustrated with this. Thoughts?

I need to be at places at least 5 minutes early. I've tried hammering this into my kids. School starts at 7:40. That's when you're supposed to be in the classroom, ready to go. How much time do you need to get there, put your bag away, and walk to the first class? That's the minimum time you need to be there early. Practice starts at 5? You don't roll up at 5. You need to be on the field, ready to go at 5 so you need to get there early enough to allow for parking and getting to the field with whatever it is you need (correct shoes, instrument or glove, etc). Same with work. Your shift starts at 9. You should be ready to work at 9.

The military kid is pretty good about being on time but when he's off, he is off. It's like there's two personalities when it comes to time management. The other kid shows up early for everything but family gatherings.

this - for ME on time is late...I'm stressed about being late etc...I build in extra time so if there's traffic or something, I'm still on time. I wouldn't check into a virtual meeting more than a minute or so early but I'll be ready before that. I don't expect to be seen/seated early - I always have something to read - but I don't want to still be filling out forms when they call my name at the doctors or trying to find my seat once the performance is starting.

The ONLY exception to other people is DH - if he's my ride and I have a 10am appt I don't want him leaving his office to come get me at 959 or 1001 which he's been known to do.

My mother was chronically late - it made my sisters and me extremely anxious. We never knew when we'd be picked up or if we'd be to places on time.

It has made us pathologically prompt. If I'm not sitting outside somewhere waiting to be let in, 5-10 minutes before I'm supposed to be there, yes "I'm late."

I’m always a little early. I’m supposed to be at school by 7:20, but most days I’m there by 6:50. I just like to have time to get my life together. If I’m supposed to be at the doctors by 9:30, I will probably be there by 9:20. I often find myself waiting a bit in the parking lot if I’m too early. For me, running late or even me perceiving that I’m running late causes me stress.

I'm totally anal retentive about being early. I am always too early, because I'm so paranoid about being late.  It's not uncommon for me to have to sit in my car, cause I'm too early.

I’m always early to work, appointments, and other professional type things but I’m more flexible with casual plans. We have a running joke in our family about a different family in our circle who are always ten minutes early to parties or gatherings and how we have to make sure we are ready for them. I think it’s a little annoying when people show up to a party or dinner when I’m doing the last minute rush and if I’m early to that kind of event I’ll wait in my car until a few minutes after the start time.

I'm there and ready right on time. Once I learn how in time they are it will determine if I arrive 5 minutes early or even right on time. When I go for acupuncture, dentist, hairdresser, I go right on time as they will take you in only a few minutes past your appointment. If my doctor's appointment is at 11, I consider 10:59 and 11:01 on time because I'm going to wait an hour. I don't have traffic or parking worries with these appointments.

Being on time for me means I’ve had a few minutes to gather my thoughts before going in somewhere and if I’m cutting it so close I have to rush in the door I’m stressed out.

I am super sensitive about being considered late too. I went to a cooking class that started at 6:30 and I arrived at 6:29 and had to sit in the last available seat and get up and get my own recipes and the coordinator complained about people being late as she handed them to me and I was butt hurt because it was still 6:29 when I sat down and then the two people who came later and actually were late seems to have gotten off scot free with no comment.

Too many variables. For work if I’m not 10min early, I’m running late. Appointments, a few minutes early is cool but I don’t stress over it, just not more than a minute or two late. Parties, never early. I hate when people show up early when I’m hosting, so I never do that to others, I’ll wait in my car around the block if I must, exact time to 5min late is acceptable in my book.