I don�t understand the concept of being late. I mean, I know there are times where it can�t be helped, like you lose your keys and have to search around for them for fifteen minutes, you get stuck in traffic, you get into an accident, etc. I�m rarely late, and if I am, it�s only for about fifteen minutes. To me, that�s the extent of polite lateness. Anything more than that is outright rude.
I�ve often wondered why, exactly, it is that I�m always on time. I mean, do I not have enough to do [that�s probably true for right now]? Do I know mysterious shortcuts that no one else does? Why am I always on time? I realized that the answer is actually quite simple: I plan my time well and I care about being on time.
As I said earlier, we have group evaluations come up for my engineering class. I�m not sure how Smart Dude and Grad Dude are going to rate me, but I can say one thing: I was always on time and I went to every single meeting. Smart Dude also showed up at every meeting and on time as well. However, the other two group members were hardly ever on time. They stretched the boundaries as well, and I know that it pissed both me and Smart Dude off. For example, at our meeting on Thursday, Grad Dude told Smart Dude to meet him at 1 pm to work on the display. I showed up at 3 pm [our normal meeting time] and Grad Dude hadn�t even come yet. In fact, he didn�t show up until an hour after that.
Three hours late? I mean, what the fuck? I realize that he�s a grad student and is therefore probably very very busy, but how long does it take to type out an email to alert others that you�re going to be late. What these perpetual late-comers don�t seem to realize is that we show up at a certain time for a reason; we can only stay for so many hours before it�s time to go. If you show up two hours late, and the rest of us can only stay for a total of two and a half hours, that means you�ll be there to help for a whopping half hour.
Maybe they do know that, actually. I�m beginning to think that�s the case of Slacker Dude. I know that this guy does the absolute minimum of work, as he�s been that way in almost ever class that I�ve been in with him. In fact, at the beginning of the project, he wanted to make Smart Dude do it all himself. He never explains why he�s late all the time, and the closest he�s ever shown up on time was a half hour late.
Now, I realize that a lot of you out there think that you�re so busy that you can�t help but be late. I also realize that you�re full of shit. If you�re too busy to take on all of the things you�re involved in, then don�t. You�re not �too cool� to show up on time, trust me. You just look ridiculous and people lose respect for you. Eventually, no one will take you seriously when you say that you�re going to show up somewhere, and soon you will become a sort of joke at parties. How do I know all of this? I�ve seen it happen.
It�s kind of hard to come up with excuse after excuse after excuse as to why you�re late all the time, when the truth of the matter is that you�re just being irresponsible and you just don�t care enough to show up. Why is Slacker Dude late all the time? He thinks that if he pretends that he�s too busy and apologetic all the time he won�t have to do any work. He shows up late because he doesn�t want to do any work and thinks that he looks better by showing up late than to show up on time and not do any work.
What I don�t understand is why he thinks that anyone is stupid enough to fall for that? I have no idea how much group evaluations actually matter in our grades or if it even matters to him how well he does, but I�ll be damned if I�m not going to mention that. I mean, this will be the first time that I�ll have ever gotten the chance to speak up about people not doing their share.
And if that results in me not doing as well as I could have, then so be it. I deserve what I get [as long as it�s in no way related to that homework/train incident], and I�ll live with it.
However, at least I can say that I was on time.
