Habitually Late

There is absolutely no excuse for being habitually late. Whether to work in the morning or meetings, being late once or twice is excusable - being late as a habit is about as unprofessional as you can get. You are essentially telling people that their time spent sitting waiting for you is not important to you. Or that your job is not important enough to get out of bed in time for.

I clearly remember when this point sunk in for me. I was about 3 years into my first job and had taken a leadership position over 28 people. This one particular woman was 10-15 minutes late to work each day. She was a single mother and said that getting her daughter to daycare is what caused her to be late. I had sympathy for the situation. One person came into my office as she walked in late one day. He said "sir, why do you put up with this?". Before I could respond, the woman said "I have to drop my daughter off at daycare". The first person responded "respectfully ma'am - that's bullshit. We expect our students to be here an hour before you. You get to go home at 4 PM. They have to stay here until 10 or 11 at night studying. You can at least have the respect for your students to get to this school on time. If they aren't here on time, we kick them out. If this job is important to you, then get up a half hour earlier and get here 10-15 minutes early rather than late."

I sat there stunned. But, he was right.

If it is the opening morning of deer season, you can bet I get up early enough to get to my stand before it gets light. That being the case, I should make sure that I give my colleagues and job at least the same respect as my deer stand.

TBL: Be a professional - don't make a habit of being late.