Late
Well, this really has become the blog of whinging of late, so why mess with a theme?
Tardiness has been a recurrant theme in the litany of my annoyances. I am generally a very punctual person, it's one of my useless skills. The easiest way to wind me up is to be late, it just shows such a fundamental lack of respect for the person you are forcing to wait, like your time is so much more important than theirs.
The band, however, seems fairly split along lines of punctual people and compulsively tardy people.
You know, like most people in the modern world, I have too much to do and not enough time to do it in. I work ridiculously long hours, and live by myself. I don't have a housemate or partner to clean up after me, look after the bills, etc. I have to do all this stuff myself, and since I usually don't get home until quite late, the weekend is when it must be done. And, somehow, rest and relaxation, socialising and creative endeavours all have to be fitted in, too.
The band is important to me. It is, perhaps, one of the most meaningful things in my life. I don't mind giving up my free time at the weekend to rehearse, as this is important. However, I DO VERY GREATLY MIND giving up my free time to sit around for hours on end, waiting for other people to turn up.
On Saturday, we were due to start at 2pm. The last person didn't even turn up until after 6, and we didn't actually stop faffing about and start rehearsing until well after 7. As a result, my Saturday was gone. So, I had to spend Sunday (with a hangover) running around trying to do all the things I didn't get done on Saturday - the laundry, the bills, the weekly cook, the artwork for the Luxembourg album. And I spent another Monday morning so tired I feel like I've not had a weekend at all.
I've had enough.
It's not a mystery, how to be on time. The only thing that annoys me more than people who are late is the endless stream of excuses about how it's NOT THEIR FAULT that they are late. No, I'm sorry. You're not late because London transport sucks. It always sucks - that's why you have to figure out exactly how long journeys take, make note of your local transport's schedule (including weekend alterations), keep abreast of potential delays and planned engineering work, and maybe even allow a bit of extra time for those delays which ALWAYS happen. You're not late because "Oh noes, I'm a bad person, wah wah ::dissolves in tears::" - you're late because YOU made a series of poor choices or because YOU failed to plan.
We've tried lying about start times to the terminally tardy, but this only inconveniences the punctual even more, when they mistakenly turn up at the "fake" early start time. We've tried discussion, we've tried threatening. And I've had enough. I've reached the end.
Next rehearsal, if all the band members have not turned up within a reasonable period of time (and I think 45 minutes is more than reasonable) from the scheduled start date, then I am simply packing up my things, turning around and going home. End of story.
Tardiness has been a recurrant theme in the litany of my annoyances. I am generally a very punctual person, it's one of my useless skills. The easiest way to wind me up is to be late, it just shows such a fundamental lack of respect for the person you are forcing to wait, like your time is so much more important than theirs.
The band, however, seems fairly split along lines of punctual people and compulsively tardy people.
You know, like most people in the modern world, I have too much to do and not enough time to do it in. I work ridiculously long hours, and live by myself. I don't have a housemate or partner to clean up after me, look after the bills, etc. I have to do all this stuff myself, and since I usually don't get home until quite late, the weekend is when it must be done. And, somehow, rest and relaxation, socialising and creative endeavours all have to be fitted in, too.
The band is important to me. It is, perhaps, one of the most meaningful things in my life. I don't mind giving up my free time at the weekend to rehearse, as this is important. However, I DO VERY GREATLY MIND giving up my free time to sit around for hours on end, waiting for other people to turn up.
On Saturday, we were due to start at 2pm. The last person didn't even turn up until after 6, and we didn't actually stop faffing about and start rehearsing until well after 7. As a result, my Saturday was gone. So, I had to spend Sunday (with a hangover) running around trying to do all the things I didn't get done on Saturday - the laundry, the bills, the weekly cook, the artwork for the Luxembourg album. And I spent another Monday morning so tired I feel like I've not had a weekend at all.
I've had enough.
It's not a mystery, how to be on time. The only thing that annoys me more than people who are late is the endless stream of excuses about how it's NOT THEIR FAULT that they are late. No, I'm sorry. You're not late because London transport sucks. It always sucks - that's why you have to figure out exactly how long journeys take, make note of your local transport's schedule (including weekend alterations), keep abreast of potential delays and planned engineering work, and maybe even allow a bit of extra time for those delays which ALWAYS happen. You're not late because "Oh noes, I'm a bad person, wah wah ::dissolves in tears::" - you're late because YOU made a series of poor choices or because YOU failed to plan.
We've tried lying about start times to the terminally tardy, but this only inconveniences the punctual even more, when they mistakenly turn up at the "fake" early start time. We've tried discussion, we've tried threatening. And I've had enough. I've reached the end.
Next rehearsal, if all the band members have not turned up within a reasonable period of time (and I think 45 minutes is more than reasonable) from the scheduled start date, then I am simply packing up my things, turning around and going home. End of story.
posted by Masonic Boom | 12:19 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home