Lateness Is Destructive

Except that its author has common misconceptions about the virtue of selfishness, I mainly share the author's annoyance and disgust with the chronically late:

10 people kept waiting in a meeting for 20 minutes, while some selfish [sic] prat who idles his way via the coffee shop, is actually 20 minutes times 10, which is 200 minutes wasted -- while you keep us waiting because you did not catch the earlier bus. That is over 3 hours wasted. By you! How much has that cost the business? Shall I send you an invoice? [minor edits]

Over the past few years, with two very young children to raise, I have had to rethink almost everything I do just to keep writing each day, let alone tackle more difficult projects. As a result, I have found myself becoming increasingly impatient with anything or anyone that wastes my time. I have even been known to complain about things like having to make a trip upstairs for something I could have gotten or done when up there a moment before.

There's a distinct feeling that particularly egregious time-wasters render my penny-wiseness mute with their pound-foolishness. Sometimes, until one has had to put great thought into some matter, one does not realize just how difficult someone else's thoughtlessness about the same matter can make things. To end on a more positive note, I have gained a greatly enhanced appreciation for the value of time over the past few years.

-- CAV