My first job interview was gruesome. It was
a sunny (read: hot as the satan that inhabits hell) day in Jakarta. I woke up
early enough, left home way too early and yet I arrived 10 minutes late. What
can I say? My so-called expert taxi driver got lost and had the shortest temper
I’ve ever seen. Needless to say I didn’t strike a very good first impression
with the interviewer, not just because of tardiness. I carried that insecurity,
flustered energy throughout the interview. The warm temperature had me sweating
and its common to sweat when you are stressed anyway. I don’t know what got
them into offering me the job, but I didn’t end up taking it (salary
was miniscule and they’d get eaten up by my hour/daily commute anyway). Ever since,
I don’t think I’ve ever been late anywhere.
Tardiness seems to be a way of life for
most people. At least, most people I know. People are known to arrive real late
ANYWHERE. But of course, there are two types of late comers.
First type is the people who TRY to be on
time. Somehow, they make self-promises to do whatever they can to reach on time
and yet fail to do so. Some people prefer to call it as sociopathic disorder
but since I don’t know much about it, I’d rather not comment. These are the
ones who end up getting highly stressed when running out of the door, already
late. You can tell by their sweaty faces, flustered looks, jittery hands,
nervous finger-tapping and so on. If you are amongst these people, you need to
constantly make the effort to be on time. I assure you, you’ll get there ;)
The second type of people is the type who I
want to kill. Those who deliberately come late and remain guiltless about it. Honestly,
if they say this is part of a certain culture (ever heard of Sindhi timing?),
then this is where those adapting this culture need to grow the hell up. I fail
to understand what in the world makes it okay for people to make others wait
for them. By doing that, they are simply showing their true characters;
selfish, inconsiderate prudes who think time belongs to themselves. No matter
how much we chide them for it, it only seems to pop in from an ear and leave
from the other. Which is, to say the least, sad. If they fail to acknowledge it
as a bad habit, then never will they be on the roads to recovery for their
tardiness. And as wrong as this may sound, I end up criticizing people they
grew up with (siblings, parents, etc). I think to myself, “Poor fella. His
folks didn’t teach him the most basic of all manners in the world”. What is
even more irritating if this person comes all decked up with make up and then
apologizes because they ran out of time. Sure, you have enough time to put face
powder to convert you from a Mediterranean to an Asian, but you couldn’t spare
2 minutes thinking about how you kept everyone waiting. I have a new word to
add to your vocabulary. Its called priorities.
Timeliness speaks a lot about yourself. It
simply tells people that by being on time, you are able to manage your own
time, value other people’s time and energy and cares enough about the agenda to
arrive well on time. It also speaks highly about how you’ve been raised, and
what education you were fed with. By education, I don’t mean a fancy college
degree but the way you’ve been taught about valuing time and people. If you’re
never on time, well, you’re an idiot.
“But what if I had a flat tire? And what if
my baby suddenly cries so loudly, he wakes up a hibernating polar bear? And
what if the traffic goes beyond its usual craziness?”. Sure, we’ve all been
there. There are just some instances we can’t control. But hey, the 21st
century brought us a technology developed by the wonderful Industrial
Revolution. It’s called a cellphone. It can be used to inform other people with
phones that a matter has come up that may prohibit you from coming on time.
This device also lets other people contact you to know what in the world is
keeping you away. All you have to do is click and say “hello”. It’s easy, my
3-year-old nephew can show you.
Personally, I do not like arriving late. I
am one of those who prefer being earlier than everybody else, simply to either
get a good seat, spend a lavish amount of time ogling the menu to choose my
meal, avoid stress when traffic hits me up, avoid being annoyed when people
call me a gazillion times asking where am I and so on. Again, this may be
irksome to those people who always come late. Actually, latecomers should write
a blog post, stating how early comers bug them. HA! Funny story, this was one
of the ways I evaluated my husband, back when we just met each other. If he turned
out to be one of those late people when picking up their girlfriends, he’d be a
no-no. Fortunately for us both, he’d either be 5 minutes early or right on
time.
If you find tardiness also annoying, start
by reminding people around you. You can also do that with your children. Teach
them to value of time and implement timeliness at home. If you are a latecomer
yourself and want to change, you are already a step ahead then those losers who
find it cool to walk in a room late, with eyes gazing upon them, evaluating
their stupidity. I do several things to keep me bright and early everywhere I
go, which are tips you can take. I make several alarms since I’m a deep sleeper
(sorry, hubby), make checklists of my to-do to help remind me I need an early
start, plan my day in advance and time them to know when I’ve gone overboard, organize
where I keep my things to grab them quickly (keys, wallet, bags. Still terrible
with my phone but at least that can be located with a call haha) and most
importantly, I keep those who may wait for me informed. If I ever feel like I
may be running late, I make sure to tell people in advance that I am expected
shortly but a little later than planned. That way, you don’t keep people
waiting for too much time and stay chilled while trying to get there as soon as
you can. WIN WIN!
Help me make this hellhole a better place
and teach others how to make full use of their expensive wristwatches
(seriously, its Rolex on every other wrist, aren’t they used to tell time at
all?)
Phew! I’ve been wanting to get this off my
chest for the longest time. If you are reading this, thanks for staying all through
my rants. Until next time! J
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