Being On Time

There are situations when "being on time" is not an issue. There are, however, situations where it is critical that you start at a predetermined time. It's important to know the difference. In my view, the deciding factors are what you have agreed to do and what the consequences are for not being punctual.  

As a wedding officiant, I push really hard for starting on time. If the ceremony is supposed to start at 5:00PM, and there are 150 people waiting for things to begin, those people are going to get awfully cranky if we don't start until 5:30. On the other hand, if you're a guest and running late, no one is going to care, or even notice. About ten years ago I ran customer service training for the company that I worked for. The session lasted about 90 minutes and I always started on time. I frequently didn't know how many people were supposed to be there, so there was no question of "waiting for that last person to show up". I usually checked the parking lot right about start time to see if there was anyone getting out of their car at the last minute. Once I started, no one was allowed in. Why? Because if I let someone in ten minutes late, I was admitting that whatever I was saying for those ten minutes was not important.

If there's an agreed-upon time, it's simple courtesy to show up at that time