Says it all:

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4169441

Every time I arrange to meet a new employee for an interview, they're at least 15 mins late. First time you meet your potential boss...first impressions...yep lets just show up whenever. Met one guy recently and he shows up 20 mins late, smoking a cigarette and playing with his phone. When I said hi he didn't look up, said "hold on" and proceeded to finish the text he was writing.

I think this is partly generational as well. I notice a HUGE difference between the under 35's/over 35's in this respect.

It's not Ok.
 
I'm punctual. If I say 7 o'clock I know it lasts for one minute
and much like the laws about speedometers (3% +- margin of error)
I try to live by that.
 
It use to burn my ass when I'd go to band practice and have to wait
30 minutes on somebody as if my 30 minutes of life didn't mean anything...well
they found out it meant I could live that 30 min and all the rest just fine without
their BS.

I'm pretty much always on time, but some people close to me are always late. I've come to accept it as a personality disorder like hoarding or over cleaning... That sort of thing.

'if you are causing no harm then you are alright with me. '

When people are important to me, I learn to work with it. How often do you think the dead had to wait on jerry?

I think it's great.  It makes it easy to know who you should be dealing with (i.e., those that ARE on time).
 
As for the guy delaying the interview, I'd tell him the interview has been postponed and, if he asks until when, I'd say "I'll get back to you on that."

I also hate those that are late. A rendez vous is a set time as far as I'm concerned.

Here in the Charente, in France where i've lived for the last 32 years, there is unfortunately a saying " le quart heure charentaise" which for non french speakers is the semi-offiicial reason to be fashionably at least 15 minutes late.

It still guts me ! So when we invite we take that into account !!!

Cheers,
Jerry

It isn't and I ain't. Too old to change. I may be in a hurry but I am seldom late... if I am I call and let someone know. I think it is called manners. It comes from discipline and brother... I got plenty of that growing up, LOL.
 
J

Another thing...
If I break down and my phone won't work I know I won't be having to wait long before somebody shows.
I know folks that if that happened to they may as well pitch a tent and locate some drinking water.

If that guy had, unfortunately, been coming to see me for a job and arrived demonstrably late, smoking a ciggie and talking on his cell phone...he would have received the rare treat of a meeting with "The Dark Prince" (an extremely rare occurance and nickname above my office door)and would've been, if not scarred for life, at least terrified for the rest of the day.  No foolin.

The thing about the late guy was that I really was in a desperate hurry to start someone....I was too busy to cover the work myself, he was a friend of a very good employee of mine, sounded OK over the phone. In the end I kidded myself that he'd be OK and I hired him. Boy what a mistake that was. He needed constant babysitting for the first month and had a really bad attitude toward me (for having the nerve to sign his paychecks, presumably ). Thing is I can't replace employees too often otherwise I lose a lot of clients, so I battled with him and didn't move and inch until he finally seemed to realize that it wasn't worth trying it on. He's doing OK now and I think he's turned it around...but this is the kind of crap I have to put up with a lot these days. 
 
Another one with the young'uns of today is that as soon as you take on a stern tone of voice with them (as you do when they screw up big time), they immediately think they're being psychologically abused and start threatening to call the UN. 

Sorry I'm late.  What are we talking about?