The Controversial Four-Letter L-Word: How bad is it to be LATE?

I spent 12 years of my life growing up right next to my school. 

It took me exactly six minutes to walk from the moment I shut my door to setting my backpack onto my class seat - including four flights of stairs downwards and three upwards. Saying this, I was accustomed to leaving everything to the last minute and never worrying about time-on-commute. People didn't care if I was a few minutes off arriving in class since I was just next door. 

Sadly, once I graduated high school, my techniques didn't work anymore. 

It took me a long time to adapt, and even when I kicked off bad habits, I am just the queen of bad luck. 

I have gotten too often on the wrong side of the train, 

missed my bus which arrived 5 minutes too early, 

riden a bus moving inch-by-inch because there was an Eminem concert in town, 

gotten lost in Labyrinth streets with my GPS going mental and believe it or not, having my skirt rip right at the center to my bottom. 

Right in the middle of the city. 

While walking. 

Yes.

My main fix-it technique I now use is adding another 30 minutes to my calculated commute time for unforeseen events - which works so far - so good! Yay! 

But now let's roll back a bit. This is not about preventing lateness. You've done your best, and for some act of God, you're running late! How bad is it going to be? In saying the following, I assume you're not late all the time, did the right thing and called them before the actual meeting time and gave an accurate time of arrival. Specially for work-related, I call even when I'm running only 5 minutes late.

Personal Friends / Casual Meet-ups

They'll get pissed but most friends will forgive you and you have to suck it up if they decided to do their thing without you. Unless people are expecting you on the meet-ups, they'll pretty much not care and go on without you. 

Interview

After letting them know, given your estimated time of arrival - lateness factored in, they'll say whether you should still come in or not. They'll normally say not to come in anymore if they have something to do after your scheduled time and if they're really tight - you'll never hear from them again. Most of the time, they'll appreciate you calling in and will see you when you arrive - if they're still free, or just reschedule on the spot. This is, of course, assuming you didn't just say you're going to be late for 2 hours. 

Work - One of Many

If your job is something all 20 of you employees doing the same, it's not much of a loss from the company, you'll get a slap on the wrist and a mumbling curse from the person whose shift you're supposed to takeover.  Do it too often, forget that job.

Work - One of a Kind

If you're part of a team where each of you does something different, you're dead. No kidding. I was once participating in a location shoot for a magazine where we were told to meet in front of XXX Gas Station located at a highway. It was set up for 6am and I arrived 30 minutes early. I called and said I was there and waiting, only to find out there were two of the same gas stations on opposite ends of the highway - almost 2 hours apart. Horrible. They called another make-up artist located nearby. I was very relieved. I'd rather they not have waited for me and mentally cursed at me the entire time. It was an honest mistake which could happen to anyone and I did hear from them again. (Whew!) 

On the other hand, I once had a busy day lined up and because a model was over an hour late, I had to cancel two following very important meetings. Think of this: you ruined everyone's day and plans, incurred extra charges for the client in terms of staff and location hours. Technically, you should pay for losses.

Work - You and Your Job are Awesome

This is exceptional. My sister, programmer and consultant, is awesome, and aside from scheduled meetings, she can pretty much arrive two hours late as long as she finishes what she have to do. Which is ironic because she was the only one out of us five who was never late a minute for school and now she gets the late benefits. Life is rewarding if you work hard. 

So that's my two cents on L-A-T-E. 

Never forget to respect everyone's time, 

call if you're going to be late BEFORE THE ACTUAL TIME, 

don't wait until they're looking for you, 

and there's always the risk you'll never hear from them again. 

To be nice or not to be nice

"Every person who you meet once, you'll meet again." I have heard the phrase too many times before, rephrased in many ways and from professionals of various fields.

Weeks ago, I was in correspondence with a photographer for her project and exhibit and we've scheduled to work together for one of her shoots. I've noticed and mentioned to her I  found her name very familiar as thought we've talked before one way or another in a vague memory. 

When I went to her Facebook Page to view her portfolio, I realised I've already "Liked" it, confirming my suspicions. 
This drove me crazy. 
I wanted and needed to know where I've dealt with her. 
So, I dug up old messages. 
It turns out, almost two years ago when I was looking to restart a local portfolio, she was one of the photographers I contacted for TFP. She turned me down sweetly, saying she was buried in backlogs of photos needing to be processed on top of work and school. I found this nice and very professional. Plenty of working professionals will simply ignore enquiries to which they know they won't partake in nor benefit from. 

Thus said, the other day, I received a message from her asking if I was able to join her shoot for the same night and she was on a hunting mission for a make-up artist(MUA) as her MUA cancelled on her. Now, this day was already so long and tiring for me and if I were to jump on board, it was going to get longer. I could say no and there will be no harm on my part. On the other hand, I remember how nice and professional she was to me before and decided I would love to work with this person.

Sure, I'm no bigwig to be in a position to say "Hah! See, you HAVE to be nice to me!" but in the end, I was in a position to make her day or keep her hunting stressfully. Baby Food for Creatives writes on how you should be nice to EVERYONE, no matter of what career position they're in. Here's also a story and example from her.

For me, being nice should be just plain instinct and part of personality. Regardless of whether it's for your career or not, why not be nice?

I'm no Pope and I do have my complaints and secret-mental-cursing about people but doesn't mean I'll use it as a reason to be rude and obnoxious. Express these things to a loved one, a sibling, maybe your lover, maybe your teddy bear. Someone you trust and knows you're not saying these things out of spite and backstabbing but mostly to release your frustrations. 

Even when working with someone whose output makes you want to pull out your hair, there is what we call constructive criticism. There's no need to go mental and be on a psychotic killing spree. I believe there is nothing wrong with sitting down and telling someone what they're doing wrong, how they've offended you or pissed you off. 

Of course, if the person in question of being nice to is someone who randomly grabbed your bottom, then forget niceness and feel free to fully unleash the kraken. I'd do this because I know there is no way in my life I would have any desire to work with this kind of person nor actually want to purr my way into his favor even if he turns out to be the king of the world.