Respect

I always consider "punctuality" as one of those quality that I expected of myself. When I had an appointment, I always turn up 30 minutes to 1 hour early. Then I'll relax at some nearby coffee-shop, make notes or read something, before actually be at the client's door 5 to 10 minutes early.

When I joined my previous company, "punctuality" is both expected and cherished. When one late by 2 minutes to the Monday morning meeting, he or she will feel uneasy for the rest of the day.

Being punctual means you respect your time and also a show of respect to the other person you are meeting with. If not because of the promise you both made to meet at that certain time, that other person may had used his/her time for something else more valuable to him/her.

Keeping people waiting for you is by far the most utterly sign of disrespect - you disrespect your time, disrespect the other person's time, disrespect your own words/promise, and disrespect the other person's "self". Will you be punctual if he is the Prime Minister? Don't lie... you WILL be punctual if he were the PM... so, is it that only those with the right status (or worse, right materials) deserved your punctuality? Hmmm...

Unfortunately, in Malaysia, this kind of disrespect is both expected and well tolerated. While I do tolerate other people to be late, I'll make it a point to myself not to do that. To tolerate something opposite of who you are, you needs patience. Lots of patience. But then, as the saying goes, "Sabar pun ada batasnya..."

What if you really are going to be late? What if you had a meeting at 11am, but had an accident at 10:30am? What if the rain pouring horses and elephants, and KL's road get jammed as it usually does?

A simple act is always suffice -- Call and Apologize -- BEFORE the meeting time, not AFTER. So if you are suppose to meet at 11am and some Act of God caused you to be late, call at 10:45am and apologize. There is no shame in apologizing, and people will generally forgiving when respected. It is understood that mishap can happen, sometimes... but not ALL the time, no?

On the contrary, it is so shameful to pull off a bluff like "Is it really we are going to meet at 11am?? I thought it is at 12...."

C'mon... have respect on the other people's intelligence, will'ya... people are not stupid... Do that frequently to a person, then enuf will be enuf... people will start to feel like being taken for granted, which is exactly what it actually was...

~ Ri Stranger