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ToggleTime Abuse, especially abuse of my time, by associates, friends, and others, has been an irritant for a large part of my life. It has been endured in school environment, work environment, and social environment, to an increasing degree. The abuse seems to be worse in recent years than in the earlier periods of my life.
Time abuse in the early years of school is not an issue I remember, although I am sure that I was probably as guilty as anyone. However, in high school I remember characteristics of those who didn’t pay much attention to being on time for anything, or so it seemed. No matter what the time set, or the type activity, there seemed to always be those who were not on time for anything. They were habitually late and interrupted all other participants in the event. It was also an irritant that some teachers delayed the event for the benefit of those who were late. It bothered me because I felt they were abusing my effort to be there on time. If I could make the effort, why shouldn’t they? It was during this time that I began making it a practice to be early – not just on time. Late-running class periods also resulted to compensate for late arrivals. This also caused problems in being on-time for follow-on classes.
Time abuse in college became more consequential. Very often professors would delay the start of class discussions to await late arrivals. They would also allow the discussions to run past the appointed end-of-class time. This caused problems for those who had another class immediately following. Especially those that required travel between buildings or other parts of the campus. If you left the late-running class while the discussion was on-going (on your time) you missed, possibly, important parts of the class material, in addition to an irked professor due to your departure before being dismissed.
Time abuse at work paralleled that of College. The abuses at work could have serious consequences. In hectic situations, a situation or event would often call for a series of meetings very close together. Delayed starting times could easily cause problems in attending follow-on meetings and the failure to capture important information relative to your performance. A person holding up the start of a meeting, because of lateness, was holding hostage all other attendees for their benefit. This lack of consideration for others would become obvious in short order. There seemed to be a whispered benefit to this as a technique for gaining recognition within the organization. That might be true, but I considered it to be adverse recognition.
Time abuse! What else can I say? Perhaps I have been too critical, but I continue to be bothered by the practices of others who don’t consider my time to be just as important to me as theirs is to them. If I make an effort to be on time, I feel that those I am associating with can make just as much effort. It is a show of disrespect to do otherwise. I don’t deny that I may sometimes be late for some unavoidable reason, as will others, but I will make an honest effort to honor my commitments. I expect others to do the same. In most cases, I will be early rather than on time or late!