When is someone late

I hate that saying with a fiery passion.

If you want me there at a certain time, tell me when to be there. Don't shame me if I am there on time.

Such a pet peeve of mine.

I am often always running from meeting to meeting, so chances are, I'm walking in at the last minute. If I do not have a meeting before, I aim for 1-2 minutes early.

If it’s a normal meeting then I show up about 9:58. Unless I think seating will be difficult, they are serving coffee etc then I show up more like 5-10 minutes early. Oh this is making me miss in person meetings

We have a core team meeting every single Monday. There are 3 of us. Boss is always late.


Other person bedsides me is always there 30 minutes early. I get there 10 minutes before and lay out my planner and files.

it truly depends on the culture and type of meeting.  Some meetings I need to be ready to go before the time and be in place when it starts, some meetings I can come in at the time and it is fine/the norm to be sitting as things start (a couple minute cushion waiting for everyone to arrive) and some meetings are somewhat more flexible on start time/you can trickle in when you get there.

A formal meeting, involving multiple people, with time constraints is different than a small comfortable small group meeting vs an informal "make it when/if you can" meeting.

As a teacher, we have all those types of meetings..and even with the formal meetings, unless it is some "high-end meet with the admin team" legal-type meeting, we know times sometimes shift and/or we have to be flexible.  Kids don't always do what we want, when we want. (parents for that matter as well)

I haven't used Zoom but do use Webex and Teams.  Who the heck uses the same meeting invite for ALL meetings?  That's just unprofessional and frankly stupid.  Create individual meeting invites for each meeting.  It's not that hard.

It happens less now, as the integrations with calendar apps have gotten better and support creating individual links for each meeting without having to go into Zoom. But there’s always the Personal Meeting Room, which is a static URL unique to each Zoom user (meant for ad-hoc meetings), and some people still use that for all meetings.

Our offices have a shortage of conference rooms or maybe too many meetings. I sit near a conference room and people are often outside in the hall waiting for the previous meeting to finish. If that happens to a meeting I am supposed to attend, I just sit at my desk and continue working until I see/hear the doors open up. This is all pre-Covid of course.

Really? You expect to be paid for the time in taking your coat off, possibly walk up a flight or more than one flight, of stairs to a staff room to put away your personal property, visit the ladies room if need be and make your way to your desk or working area/department.

   and 90% of my working life had precise beginning times. 

Ditto. I operate on that for meetings/classes I attend and meetings/classes I lead. I also operate that way for appointments, everything. We taught our kids that also, and their professions also require that same thinking. Of course there is grace and no one is shamed but you just miss out on what was said at the beginning. The people that expect a meeting to begin and end on time truly appreciate it too. If they have kids to pick up, they can trust we will be out on time.

good to know - I’ve never worked somewhere like that. Even now it’s extremely flexible when people logon and start working - the norm is around 9am but it ranges anywhere from 8am-9:30am.

This is timely for me, no pun intended. I had a 10 a.m. meeting for my volunteer job today, 4 of us traveling individually to the meeting location. I was unavoidably delayed and sent a text message to all at about 9:30 saying I would be running late but would be there as soon as possible. I managed to get there by about 10:05, and I was still only the second person there.

So yes, I think you get there before 10, however early you need to be to be ready to go at 10 on the dot, and the meeting starts at 10. That is not the world I live in, though. And honestly, when I was working a real job, I think it was about 50/50 as to whether a 10 a.m. meeting meant beginning at 10 or beginning at 10:05, 10:10, 10:15...