Have you joined my incredibly non-annoying, once-in-a-while email newsletter?
I want to share two days of my schedule with you for this week:
Tuesday:
- 9am coffee: Person never showed, emailed about a train disruption at 8:45am, when I was already there.
- 10am in-person meeting in my office: Person never showed up, never called.
- 1pm: Call with Lori Russo of Stanton Communications. She called me at 12:58. Perfect.
- 2pm: Call, my phone rang at 2:07pm.
Thursday (Today):
- 8:30am call – Call with Steve Stein of Better Listen. Called on time, perfect.
- 9am coffee – Person showed up at 9:18, “sorry, train delay” We had 12 minutes to have a meeting.
- 10am Skype Interview for someone’s podcast: They called me at 10:18am, “Sorry, I got held up.”
- 11am call: It’s 11:15. The phone hasn’t rang yet.
WHAT THE ACTUAL F$CK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE NOWADAYS?
That’s it. I’m done. I don’t care who you are, I don’t care how important you think you are, or worse, how not-important you think I am. If you’re late for a meeting for any reason other than something truly major, we’re done. Done. No more rescheduling. No more “oh, we can do it over the phone. None of that.
If you don’t respect my time as much as you value your own, you are an asshole, and We. Are. DONE.
I’m through with making sure I get up on time, I get an earlier train, to get to the meeting 15 minutes early. I’m through with being the only one in the equation who respects the other person’s time. I. Am. DONE. You’re late? I don’t care if it was the subway. Traffic? Guess what? This is a major freaking city. THERE’S ALWAYS TRAFFIC. YOU PLAN FOR IT, LIKE A DAMN GROWN-UP.
Think this is harsh? Think I’m being a bit heavy-handed? GOOD. BE ON TIME.
Want a call with me? If we have a call at 10am, and you don’t call until 10:15am? I’m not answering. Screw you. My life isn’t here for you to dictate when I’m allowed to get work done and when I’m supposed to be waiting for your sorry ass. HELL no.
If I respect you enough to get somewhere on time, to call you when I say I’m going to, and to plan for most eventualities, I expect, hell, screw that, I DEMAND that you do the same.
If you don’t want to? That’s fine. I don’t want to meet with you. Ever.
Agree with you entirely. With an iPad, no time is wasted. I can reply to emails, catch up on business reading, or just eat a fun book. I’d much rather be 30 minutes early and have time to relax and focus. I’m not as dogmatic about it as some and I’ll sometimes excuse the first time, but a pattern of tardiness is just plan rude.