We are being plagued by a disease. A disease that has caused suffering for friends and families, which sometimes can be fatal. This disease has many names: Sometimes it is called tardiness, other times it is called procrastination, or it may even be casually regarded as simply being late. The proper name is yet to be defined as it is hard to get the patient of such a disease to show up on time for a complete diagnosis. This disease should be cured and humanity should no longer suffer. We have conquered polio, small pox, and Rick James, so why do we not have the ability to cure tardiness?
Let us start with some background to define the people suffering from such a disease, considering the remote chance that you are not aware of these symptoms. We all know these people; We interact with them on a regular basis in our daily lives. You know the ones: They come 20-30 minutes after the appointed time, stating a myriad of excuses and reasons ranging from work, traffic, family and the way the stars were aligned last night. Then, they have the audacity to act as if it is a normal occurrence and that you should accept it. Of course, we can all be late sometimes due to some unforeseen circumstances, but if that is the case, we inform the others and try to schedule work around our meet-ups for these circumstances. This is done so that the other party understands and knows what is occurring, and they can wait, assured that we will be arriving shortly.
What bothers us all and shows pure disrespect and disregard to our values and our precious time is our subject of this post, that one person who is chronically late...and is even proud of it. When arriving late, the person boasts that "this is who they are" and "we should all get used to it and accept it". Now, being late is first of all, rude to the people who are on time. Secondly, it is rude to the people who want to have things done on time. Furthermore, those who must wait probably had previous and further obligations, but end up waiting for the king or queen or late arrival to join them. What is even worse are people who do not give you an answer if they will come, then they agree to come later on, yet still arrive late. This makes the person look snobbish and arrogant, to the extent that it makes people question why they keep asking that person to join them when he or she does not even respect them enough to come on time.
From a psychological point of view, many of our bad habits develop at a young age, and being late is not exception. If the parents do not enforce discipline and structure in the mind of the child, then the child will develop into an adult that lacks responsibility. Time to them is nothing but a number, 20 minutes extra is nothing, no one will die right? That way of thinking is plain stupid. It is not difficult to be on time, especially if the others provide the concerned person with the time well in advance for that person to arrange their schedule accordingly. This disease is truly fatal to the system of order, structure, and discipline. Though the carriers of this disease are those who are tardy, the victims of this illness (who are left waiting) are the ones who truly suffer.
So let us start a campaign against people who are always late. Let us call it the Campaign against Tardy Tarts. (CATTs)
If you know a tardy tart, please pass this message to them.
Remember, don't be a pussy. Join the CATTs!
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