How late is late

[Amelia]

How late is late

Researchers have finally decided how late is late - 10 minutes, 17 seconds.

That is the lateness threshold at which people feel it necessary to telephone and admit they are going to be late.

During that time, 12 babies will be born in England and Wales, there will be eight road accidents, 3,804 people will board an aeroplane and 590 million e-mails will be sent worldwide.

However, about 10% of us would not consider calling until at least 30 minutes beyond the "agreed appointment time", says the study, by motorists' website GetMeThere.co.uk.

More than 80% of people in their 50s claim they are never late for anything because they are gripped by "bus fuss" - the anxiety about being late for crucial events.

But almost 70% of young women believe it is "acceptable, if not fashionable" to be late on a first date because it makes them feel "less desperate".

On one subject, both men and women agree - they "wouldn't care" if they were late for their mother-in-law's birthday party.

[LynnDel]

I am the direct descendant of a woman who is never late and a man who is rarely early. That inherited combination has bred in me a person who has arrival times planned down to the last second. Such close-cut schedules are stressful. I don't recommend them, especially in my rural location where tractors pulling huge implements behind them on the 2-lane highway tend to be a regular occurrence on the mornings I have scheduled myself 7:45 a.m. meetings and my car clock says 7:42 when I am still 5 minutes from school. Then I remember that I purposely set that clock three minutes fast, and all is well with the world.

When it comes to social occasions, I often plan to be a little late - about ten minutes worth; give the hostess time to do the last minute touches.

LD

[Nan]

I once read (in a book by C Northcote Parkinson, called Parkinson's Law) that the way to have people arrive on time is to give them a very specific appointment - as in 10.31 or 2.17. It gives the impression that your schedule is so tight that you literally have no spare minutes in the day. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Nicodema]

It is advisable to always arrive a good 10 minutes early for any job interview.

[Anthony!]

It is just as wrong to arrive too early as too late...

I knew a man who insisted on being 20 to 30 minutes early for all his functions and appointments

A woman came to my home for a meeting one time, she was 25 minutes early and my wife and I were finishing changing clothes for the function. I put my head out the window and told her she would have to wait outside for at least 10 minutes.