What is lateness doing for your image?
The late Rihanna and the late Bieb –
In the news recently some of big stars have been diss-ing their fans. Rihanna kept Canadian fans waiting 90 minutes for her Winnipeg concert and waiting 1hr in Edmonton. Even Canada‘s sweetheart Justin Bieber has kept audiences waiting. What can we learn from them?
Are you a time-stickler or an approximate-or?
Pay attention to this advice if you’re an approximate-or, chronically late person and you know who you are. (Yes, as your corporate image consultant I know you’ve got plenty of excuses and yes, if God had meant us to be on time She wouldn’t have invented cell phones.)
Sticklers for time
If you are a stickler for time, you generally arrive at meetings or appointments 10 to 15 minutes early. If you’re an approximate-or kind of person you rush in 10 or 15 minutes late. Think about this…for those that are ‘just-in-timers, you’ve kept the sticklers waiting for 30 minutes and you’re off on the wrong foot.
Business etiquette tip
This is especially important for first time meetings because you have no history with those you’re meeting with and they’re going to assume being late is your SOP standard operating practice. Not a great career move.
Unless you’re Rihanna or the Bieb
So unless you’re a star who doesn’t really care about your fans, take note. Better to overestimate how long it’s going to take you to get to your appointments than rushing in, out of breath and not being on top of your game.
Do tardy people annoy you? Are you a time-stickler or a just-almost-intimer? What helps you be punctual?
Ps – Terry has started to put funny captions behind the photo, mouse over it to see 🙂
I absolutely agree! I have to admit, I’m approximate-or …but when it comes to business I’m on time or early. Especially are taking time away from the other person you are meeting with when you are late. And they probably have much better things to do than wait for you. Delaying the start of a meeting could mean people are late for another appointment, that they will have less time to complete their work, or for matter noon/evening meetings it could mean time away from their family.
A friend pointed out to me regarding people being consistently late for work that after 6 or 7 hours in bed what does that extra 10 minutes lying in bed do for you except make you late? Seriously it doesn’t really add to your rest and if you’ve had a bad or late night – again those 10 or 15 minutes lying there are not going to make any difference in how you feel – unless you feel guilty about being late.
Good tip Maria, and for some reason Joanne takes longer to get ready than me. (A guy gal thing? I wonder if Justin takes longer than Rihanna?)
Respecting people’s time is very important. Approximate-or people probably wouldn’t phone either if they were going to be 5 min late (which they should, of course). To get to events on time, I like to work backwards, for example, as I need to leave at 11:30 am and it takes me one hour to get dressed, then I should be in that shower by 10:15 am at the latest.
Thank you, Joanne!!