The thread in the nursing student forum about people who are always late got me thinking.
I am chronically early for everything. If I'm not 10 minutes early for an appointment, work, whatever, then I start to get anxiety. So I have a hard time relating to those who are temporally challenged. And I know that there are people who are ALWAYS late. I work with half a dozen providers, and one or two are like me (always there 15 minutes before start time), a couple get there right at start time, and there are 2 or 3 who are ALWAYS 10-20 minutes late for their first appointment of the session (and it drives me farking nuts, because the chronic late ones are my favorite providers and they ask me to go to lunch with them, and if I accept, then *I* will be late for my first appointment of the afternoon session, which is exactly what happened yesterday).
I know that sometimes it's just poor (or lack of) planning. But I've come to suspect that for some people, it's just part of their innate character, and that's what I want to try to understand better, so that I can better work with these people (and not show my intense annoyance). I really do think that sometimes, it's just beyond their control.
So for those of you who are temporally challenged, or love someone who is, help me understand what happens in their brains that make them this way, so I can be a more understanding coworker/supervisor.
I am a chronic last minute person and I will tell you it stems from my perception that my time is INCREDIBLY valuable to me. I put 100% effort into everything I do. I know other people's time is valuable to them, too... but really? Waiting in the parking lot for 30 minutes? Standing around staring at the time clock for ten minutes because it's too early to clock in and you're just... what? Enjoying looking at the wallpaper? It's the same wallpaper that's always there. There are better things I could be doing than looking at the wallpaper. An extra five minutes with my boyfriend is better than looking at the wallpaper. Even an extra two minutes loving on my cat, or an extra minute just to relax before work. I guess we have mutual views that people with the opposite view of time have some kind of dysfunction.
I clock in between 1844-1845 every day, usually 1845. Half the time I am sprinting from my car to the time clock to make it on time - and I do mean full on top speed sprint, that results in struggling to catch my breath and me feeling absolutely awful for at least ten minutes. We can clock in as early as 1838, but I have never clocked in any earlier than 1842, and I was impressed when I managed that. I hit every single green light on the way to work that day!
I know exactly how long it takes me to get ready and I budget exactly that amount of time. I also know it usually takes me less than ten minutes to get to work so I budget myself ten minutes to get there. I am also a chronic lead foot and a speeder - I average a speeding ticket a year. I try and modify that behavior, but it's the same principle - why take half an hour to get somewhere when I can take 28 minutes instead? That's an extra two minutes to do whatever I want to do when I get there. Does anyone enjoy wasting time in traffic? I certainly don't. I also know that a lawyer can usually use the improper equipment defense once a year, so I have never gotten points on my license/insurance despite the seven speeding tickets I have gotten so far. I have been let off with a warning three times.
So that's my logic. It has hurt me a few times - I had a teacher in nursing school that had quizzes at the beginning of class, and if you weren't there before the quizzes were passed out, you were not allowed to take them. I had two quizzes that I got zeros on because of this. You bet I went and cried in the bathroom over it both times, and it brought my GPA down from a 3.92 to a 3.89 when I got a B+ instead of an A- in that class because of the zeroes, but honestly? People are still impressed that I graduated magna cum laude from nursing school, you know what I'm saying? I don't think any grad school is going to turn me down because my GPA was a 3.89 instead of a 3.92. I guess I have never been motivated to change my behavior because even if something "hurts" me, it doesn't hurt me bad enough to make a difference.
There's something unnerving about a nurse, or any registered professional, bragging about routinely taking advantage of legal loopholes. I can't help but wonder how that attitude translates into their professional life. I'm not saying my driving is beyond reproach, but you've got evading the law down to a science.
And I think you might find that there's a happy medium between barrelling into work at a sprint and waiting around for half an hour beforehand. Both demonstrate suboptimal time management. Presumably both your boyfriend and your cat are going to be around for a while, so why not leave ten minutes earlier, drive at a safe speed, and stroll into work instead of running?
One of the things I do when I come to work early is (besides opening up the exam rooms, setting out POC testing supplies in the lab, and making coffee) is "buffing" my schedule - looking up all the patients I will see that day, thoroughly combing through their medical and OB history with our facility, and mentally making a checklist of things I will need to address with that specific patient. I also briefly buff the providers' schedules to make sure there aren't any glaring scheduling errors that need to be rectified, or holes that need to be filled.
I would not be able to do that at home. I would love to be able to do that at home, in my pajamas, drinking coffee.
I'm a student ;-)
I print my materials, get my notebooks ready, make my coffee and read/respond to my emails. My earlier-arriving peers do all that on campus, while chatting, and are the ones shuffling their notebooks around while the lecture is already starting. As a rule, if it's work-related, I show up to do any prep I need to do enough in advance that I'm ready to roll when it's time to roll. The difference between me and my earlier peers is that I don't like to chit-chat for an hour after arriving because that's what makes me truly late, and why I'm the one sitting quietly while the prof starts and they're still finishing that coffee.
One thing that really bothers me is people who show up 5 minutes late, clock in basically right on time, go to the break room, fluff and buff themselves, run to the cafeteria to get coffee come back to the break room…oh wait, there is an interesting piece on the Today show about the latest trend in shoes…they watch that, then come strolling in 25 minutes late. All while the night shifter who has been there 12 hours, and has to be back in less than 12 hours, waits from their replacement.
FWIW, I get there 10-15 minutes early and have never found myself looking at the wallpaper.
People who do that drive me batty. In my view, if you've clocked in, you need to have done all that stuff already. Clocking in means ready to start, not ready to prep to start.
Time challenged people, some can debate on culture.. lol I come from a culture where being on time to functions or other "things" is more lax... nothing personal to u or anyone else..
I come from that culture but, I hate being late and am always 10-15 or more early.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
I thought you were asking for thoughts, your OP already made your stance clear.
I was asking for a better understanding of the thought process of people who are chronically tardy. Doesn't mean that I don't still want them to show up on time.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
Can you change the first appointment time for the late providers to 8:30 so that conicides with the time when they typically arrive?
I wish we could. We just changed our templates to schedule in MORE visits per session. Changing that first appointment time from 0810 to 0830 would be totally counter-productive to what upper management has tasked us, which is to see more visits.
Interesting topic. I am one who's almost always early when I have to be somewhere. Like someone else said, if I'm pushing the limits with time, my anxiety rises and causes stress.
I have a family member who is nearly always late. Honest to God, she was late to her own wedding. I know because I was her maid of honor. I remember giving her reminders every 1/2 hr or so to keep her on track and she still managed to be late. Short of taking her arm and dragging her to the altar, there's not a whole lot I could do.
The thing is, she is truly one of the most intellectual and intelligent people I know. She's bilingual, finished undergrad school and is now halfway through law school. We have had the most interesting and meaningful conversations. Our family has learned to accept her lateness and adjust because we love her, faults and all. I sometimes wonder how she manages to conform to the time requirements of the outside world, which is understandably, not so forgiving and tolerant of chronic lateness.
It's interesting how one person can possess conflicting personality traits. I guess that's what makes us all unique :)
Executive function? Future oriented mindset? I wonder if there is a connection there. Some people keep immaculate houses, others can't keep an organized unchaotic space. Some people are punctual all the time while others are unaware of time, or always scrambling to catch up.
I wonder if people with a strong internal locus of control are the people who are on time, organized and plan ahead.
In response to the original post, asking for comments from people with tardiness issues...
I've been struggling with tardiness my entire life. It stresses me out and I really do try to be on time, but sometimes it almost does feel as if it's out of my control. I know it sounds really silly, feeling that it's beyond my control... the only reason I feel [almost] comfortable saying that is because I have and am always working on getting better about being on time. Just a note for the people who think we (late ones) are just being selfish by being late... I DO care about other people's time and how my tardiness effects them. I know it's not fair to other people, and I know how annyoing it is to wait on others. I even have anxiety attacks over my trouble with being late. I don't like being like this, and I am constantly working on it.
Here are some things I think contribute to my tardiness:
I have issues falling asleep early enough and I'm tired during the day so I try to get every minute of sleep I can (I have endocrine issues that contribute to my fatigue, foggy-brain, etc.). I end up waking up 15 mins or less before I have to leave my house, in order to get more sleep...
I'm also terrible with maps, directions, and math... I've read about there being a link between having difficulty with numbers, directions (as in getting to a place), planning, and time; so that could also be a contributor.
I have trouble estimating how long things take (I've even tried journals and apps to track my time for individual activities). I set alarms for everything (ex: in the mornings I'll have an alarm go off every 5 mins, so I know how close I am to the time I need to leave my house... and I'm still slightly late and running to class or clinicals most of the time).
For people like me, for whatever reason, it's a problem that requires a lifestyle change, which can be extremely difficult. I've been actively working on my tardiness for around 10 years now. After I graduated college for the first time (2008) and started working, I would be anywhere from 30mins-2hrs late to work most days (I was lucky that my bosses liked me so much!)... Now, I'm usually late a few mins and no later than 10mins, (unless I'm having GI issues, which happens at least a couple times a month).
My goal is to be, at least, on time every day by my last semester of nursing school (grad in May 2016). I'm shooting for being early by that point, but right now I'm just taking it one step at a time. I know I should be on time now, but, as I described above, it's a bit of a process for me.
I'm not sure if that really answers your questions or satiates your curiosity, but I hope it gave a little insight into the life of one who is chronically tardy, conscious of it, and struggling with it. Personally, I haven't known very many people who struggle with it as I do, but the ones I have met have similar issues to mine, or they are just not very considerate. I'm not trying to say those are the only two reasons, I'm just writing about my own personal experiences. I know that there are probably thousands of reasons why people are chronically late besides the ones I wrote about here.
People who are chronically late have no respect for the value of anyone else's time but their own. It's rude, it's disrespectful, and everyone's time should be considered valuable. No excuses.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
My answer to chronic tardiness? Change your personal time schedule so you will be early, Respect others' time. I have worked with nurses who were always late. It got on my nerves, fast. One time, after the umpteenth time being 15 or more minutes late, I got very annoyed with this nurse. She did this EVERY day. Well, I wrote out report, after giving verbal quick report to another nurse, and tossed the paper in her face and said "if you want report at the table, sitting down BE ON TIME FROM NOW ON! Your coworker does not want to take YOUR report".
She got the message. I am never late; I aim to be there early, whatever I do.
Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN
955 Posts
There's something unnerving about a nurse, or any registered professional, bragging about routinely taking advantage of legal loopholes. I can't help but wonder how that attitude translates into their professional life. I'm not saying my driving is beyond reproach, but you've got evading the law down to a science.
And I think you might find that there's a happy medium between barrelling into work at a sprint and waiting around for half an hour beforehand. Both demonstrate suboptimal time management. Presumably both your boyfriend and your cat are going to be around for a while, so why not leave ten minutes earlier, drive at a safe speed, and stroll into work instead of running?