Earlier today (5-18) I had an appointment with my therapist for 3pm. Of course, even though it's only about a 30 minute drive (usually) this is Los Angeles, so I left about an hour before that. Why? Well the truth is that I am one of those people who would rather be a half hour early, then 5 minutes late. I've been like this all of my life. Be it doctor appointments or restaurant reservations or being to work on time, I'm always early. The way I figure it is that the person or job planned for me to be there at a particular time and I would hate it if I made similar plans for someone else and they weren't there when I expect them to be, so why would I do the same to another?

Of course this applies mostly to being to work on time. I used to work in a psychiatric emergency room and I had a work partner who was always late. Our 12 hour shift started at noon and he was never, not once, on time. He was never more then 15 minutes late, but that's not the point. The point is that he was never once on time! Of course he always had an excuse, which was almost always traffic. That's just so much bullshit. If you are consistently 10 to 15 minutes late to work because of "traffic", then leave 20 minutes sooner then you do!

The same applies if you are a boss (which I have been several times). I understand that people have valid reasons for being late. Everyone gets flat tires or a dead battery once in awhile. In a city everyone gets stuck in a jam behind a traffic accident sometimes. These things happen and I would never be the type of boss who would hold these things against any of my employees. However, if you're late to work time after time after time, then you don't want your job and I don't want you in it.

In other cases, like restaurant reservations and doctors appointments, being late is just plain rude. Yes many times the restaurant or doctor may be running late, but I'd much rather the lack of coordination be their fault, then mine. Besides if you're late for dinner reservations in a great restaurant you may find yourself out of luck when you show up.

Now I freely admit that this is mostly a pet peeve of mine. Not everyone is as concerned about being on time for something that is scheduled to begin at a certain time. Some people (and I'm married to one) are quite caviler about being on time. Some people either don't care about being on time or make a good faith effort to be, but just don't seem to be able to make it happen.

So, talk to me boys and girls. Are you as anally retentive as I am about being on time for things? Am I crazy for thinking that you should be somewhere when you said you would be, within reason of course? Do you know people who are caviler about being on time? Do they make you crazy?