Dear Plumpy,
I’m having a big problem with my friend. We’ve got a club and our meetings are every Wednesday and Friday at 4:30. There are five of us in the club, and four of us are always on time – everyone except my friend. I’m not sure what to do – sometimes she’s almost twenty minutes late! Our meetings only run for half an hour, so twenty minutes is a lot. I’ve tried reminding her, but it doesn’t seem to matter –she’s NEVER on time. Our other friends want to kick her out of the club, but I don’t think that’s fair. What should we do?
- Never Late
Dear NL,
I’ve had a similar problem in the past with my best friend Wiggles. Wiggles was usually late, unless we happened to be going someplace together (in which case, I always reminded him and made sure we were out the door in plenty of time).
The problem was that Wiggles would often lose track of time. So, if he was working on a design for a new room or making lunch or just watching TV, he’d misjudge the amount of time he would need to actually get where he was going. After missing a meeting with a client who wanted him to makeover their kitchen, Wiggles realized he needed to make some changes. Here’s what we did to help him get to where he had to go on time:
1. Write everything down – Wiggles has a planner so he knows exactly what time everything starts.
2. Tell yourself to be early – Even now, Wiggles tells himself to be at his destination 10 minutes early (so, if something starts at 6:00, he’ll tell himself he HAS to be there at 5:50).
3. Have a friend remind you – If Wiggles and I are meeting for a coffee, I’ll always call him earlier in the day to remind him where and when we’ll be meeting. He says it helps.
4. Think about others – Wiggles didn’t realize how much it bothered me that he was always late until we missed the beginning of one of my favorite plays because he was late picking me up. I was so upset! After that, he always thought about how being late makes others feel.
Sometimes you’re late for reasons you can’t help (bad weather, homework, chores), but try to be as prompt as possible as often as possible – and make sure to encourage your friend to do so too!
Love,
Plumpy
Sounds really cool. I think I should start having meetings with my friends, that’s a great idea. Only I’m not sure that would work out cuz we aren’t really neighbors. Oh well.
These are great ideas. Another thing that can happen is the club activities can start on time anyway, because it really isn’t fair to the people who are there on time. It doesn’t say what happens at the club, but if the club is planning parties, events or charity fun stuff that takes coordination. It should be the responsibility of the person who missed decisions to catch up . … maybe it could be their turn to take the notes next time if they are late. i.e. last one there takes the notes – but that only works if they are a little bit late. At my parent’s work, people who are late for meetings have to put money in a jar for charity because they waste other people’s time.
THNK HAVING YOUR CLOCK SET AHEAD OF TIME HELPS FOR AWHILE THEN I REMEMBER IT IS FAST AND END UP BEING LATE ANY WAY. I’LL KEEP TRYING THOUGH. MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE SOMEONE ELSE FIX THE CLOCK SO I DON;T KNOW HOW FAST OR SLOW THE TIME IS. WHAT DO YOU THINK? ANY SUGGESTIONS? ANYONE!!
I dislike art projects