Early Birds

[blas87]

Overly-punctual?

I know what it's like to deal with people who don't give a shit about being on time. My last boyfriend and I went to many movies where we were literally running across the parking lot and into the theater and had to sit in the damn front because we were late, even when I told him that bigger anticipated movies = MUST be decently early to.

And I don't want to ever deal with people like that, with no regard for anyone who take their sweet time in whatever they do, who cares what time I get there.

But this overly early crap...just chaps my butt. I remember plenty of times having to wait for the pastor to get to church because mom didn't yet have a key (didn't work at the church yet) because we were so darn early. We've had family gatherings before where no one else was there and we were waiting and mom would make my brother and I set everything up.

For the family thing, I'll just reference you guys to another thread of mine titled "Respect and Obligation".....my parents take it to a level that is beyond the comprehension of most.

I know for sure, my brother and I are not looking forward to waiting for an hour at that restaurant for everyone else to show up.

[Andara Bledin]

Showing up too early is just as rude as showing up late.

^-.-^

[blas87]

And the thing is, I'm pretty easily entertained, but I cannot fathom what my brother and I are going to do while we wait for a damn hour. It's just so damn stupid. And I almost wonder if they always feel they need to be early to ensure everyone else shows up....which isn't a guarantee or even logical.

My dad is so obsessed with being on time, he will interrupt whatever we are watching on TV and say we "have" to change the channel to "see" if the news is coming on yet. DAD, for years and years, the news comes on when it comes on, at 5:00 (or 6:00 or 10:00 whichever one). It's NOT going to start at 4:35, or 4:45.

[Boozy]

I suspect that if the plan were to meet at your place, blas, your parents would have no interest in coming that early. It would be deemed unnecessary all of a sudden.

But it's really no problem for them if you all arrive at THEIR house that early. After all, they will still be in their own home and have plenty of time to get ready while their children sit around and wait. They will have the peace of mind knowing that they have complete control over when they leave.

Unless they plan to leave as soon as you arrive, or at least entertain you as soon as you arrive, they have committed a serious breach of etiquette. They are being dismissive of your time in a way they would never be of their own.

I'm not surprised. By far the rudest behaviour I've ever seen comes from parents towards their adult children, and vice versa.

[blas87]

They or my brother are picking me up tomorrow so I don't have to use the extra gas. That wasn't the original plan, but my parents figured either they'd stop by after church to get me (their church isn't far from where I live) or they'd send my brother to get something at Menards and come get me on the way.

As much as I like saving gas, I feel like the super early part is the quid pro quo (or however you say that), the reason why the time was changed from 11:30 to 10:30.

But you are right about one thing, Boozy. One thing about my dad is whenever there's a big plan, he will try to herd everyone out to the car, we need to go Now Now Now Now, we are going to be late! Then, everyone gets into the car, and dad all of a sudden has to use the bathroom. And takes a 20 minute poop (forgive the overshare, but it's how it is). Or, he forgot to shut something off. Or he forgot his hat.

Never makes us late, well, perhaps by he and mom's idea of late, which is less than an hour early, but it's irritating.

And really puts things in perspective with guys I date and my friends. They act like I make us late because I take forever to get ready. We've never been late. In fact, my one friend is always the late one because she decides at the last minute she HAS to change her outfit or curl her hair. I always pre-plan everything I'm going to wear, even down to what color makeup I'm going to use (yeah, nerdy). Because I don't get ready as fast as they do, and they get bored and want to come over and wait for an hour since we don't have plans until then, or they want to meet up earlier, they get mad.

[HYHYBT]

Is there even a word for the opposite of tardiness?

Earliness?

Showing up too early is just as rude as showing up late.

Depends on the situation. If it's somebody's house, definitely. For a movie? Not really, if it's not so early the theater hasn't even opened, if there's space to hang around without being in the way or confusing anyone, and if you don't blame anyone else for your wasted time but yourself.

On the other hand, unless it's going to be crowded, showing up a little late for movies is a good thing. Less time wasted watching commercials you could have seen at home on TV.

[Jetfire]

I hate being late as well, so most of the time I do try to turn up early; but not an hour early or anything extreme like that, unless I need to turn up that early or else be late (due to bus scheduling and so forth). I also hate waiting so that generally leads me to be 10-15 minutes early, give or take.

That said, this past New Years Eve, my parents were particularly exasperating due to how early they wanted to be. We had to pick my sister up at the airport, and she'd already been shifted to other flights due to weather. Her flight was scheduled to be in around 6:45pm. My parents (who were killing time at my house, watching TV), were raring to go to the airport to wait for her by 4:30pm. The airport itself is at most a 30 minute drive from my place; hell we were practically leaving for the airport before her flight even left to come to the airport.

We did a few errands before the stores closed that Eve and only had to wait 90 minutes or so at the airport (because her flight was still late; gotta love Winter Flying), but it was more than a bit exasperating.

[HYHYBT]

That's especially bad. Flights are virtually never significantly early, and if they are, well, the person flying in can wait. Leaving *some* extra time in case traffic is bad may make sense, but especially when everybody has a cell phone, there's no need for extremes.

Even when they once put me on an earlier flight because I was so early and there were seats left, it wound up being delayed until the time the original one was supposed to go. (Meanwhile, my suitcase wound up on the one even before that, which had gone on time just after I'd gotten to the airport. So it was sitting there at the baggage claim for something like seven hours. Glad nobody else took it!)