Family Members Who Are Always Late Insist They’re Not The Problem, Regret It

Interview With Author

I don’t know about you, pandas, but I have a serious problem with always being on time. It’s not quirky or relatable, and my intolerance toward tardiness always irritates my friends and family members. Perhaps it has to do with anxiety; perhaps I just always crave to be in control of the situation as much as I can.

So I sympathize with this family whose other members are serial dawdlers. The story comes from a Reddit user named happyscatteredreader. Her family, fed up with family members who were always chronically late, decided to maliciously comply with their request to know the right time to be at places.

happyscatteredreader was kind enough to tell Bored Panda more about the story. Read a short interview with her below!

Punctuality can be important, especially when traveling

Family Members Who Are Always Late Insist They're Not The Problem, Regret It

Image credits: explorenation (not the actual photo)

These always-late relatives had to learn the hard way that “the ferry waits for no man”

Family Members Who Are Always Late Insist They're Not The Problem, Regret It

Image credits: Arefin Shamsul (not the actual photo)

Family Members Who Are Always Late Insist They're Not The Problem, Regret It

Image credits: happyscatteredreader

The OP tells Bored Panda some more details about the story

The author of this post agreed to tell us a little more about her post that was so popular on Reddit. As of November 24th, it has 4k upvotes and more than 200 comments.

happyscatteredreader says that a conversation with a friend inspired her to share her story with the people of the Internet. “I had been speaking to a friend complaining of a family member always being late and facing no consequences,” the OP tells us. “That conversation reminded me of this story as it’s very much about a natural consequence of someone’s own actions!”

We inquired if there was any specific situation that provoked her parents (and other family members) to start giving the aunt and uncle the wrong time for events. Surely, even the most patient people have a limit. “I don’t think it was a specific situation,” the author admits.

“Just more so a general sense of being fed up with missing the start of events or getting started late on days out, rushing to get places. That just prompted the ‘let’s tell them it starts at an earlier time’ approach,” happyscatteredreader recounts.

Family Members Who Are Always Late Insist They're Not The Problem, Regret It

Image credits: Engin Akyurt (not the actual photo)

The author of the post also tells us how the relatives reacted when the ferry departed without them

The OP’s story culminates in the relatives missing the ferry for a family trip. She didn’t mention how her aunt, uncle and cousins reacted at that moment. So we decided to ask her.

“They were very annoyed!” happyscatteredreader is honest. Because there were no mobile phones back then, the family had no way to contact each other in the immediate aftermath. “But I believe we called their landline from a payphone when we docked and figured out what happened,” the Redditor tells us.

She already mentioned in her post that, sadly, the relatives didn’t change their ways. “Timekeeping got a little bit better for a while (due to the unmerciful teasing they got) but they continued to be late for general meet-ups,” the OP admits.

Such family dynamics can reflect on children later in life when they grow up. A user Nope_thank_you commented: “I am neurotically early for everything because my parents were your aunt and uncle when I was growing up.”

The OP tells us she also tries to always be on time. “I’m definitely punctual. I have to work backward from the event time. If the event starts at 7 PM, takes 30 minutes to get there, let’s give 45 minutes,” she quickly does the math.

“It will take me 1 hour to get ready so I need to start getting organized at 5.15 so I have 30 minutes extra time in case I need it! I hate rushing and will actively avoid putting myself in those situations.”

happyscatteredreader admits the behavior of her relatives might have impacted her current habits. “I think watching them miss out on fun activities or get stuck in crowds because they didn’t like early starts made me realize I didn’t want to be always hurrying about.”

Family Members Who Are Always Late Insist They're Not The Problem, Regret It

Image credits: ZHANG FENGSHENG (not the actual photo)

Unfortunately, this occurrence did not change their behavior

Family Members Who Are Always Late Insist They're Not The Problem, Regret It

After reading the story, some commenters agreed that punctuality is important

Family Members Who Are Always Late Insist They're Not The Problem, Regret It

Other Redditors had similar stories to share

Family Members Who Are Always Late Insist They're Not The Problem, Regret It

Hi there, fellow pandas! As a person (over)educated both in social sciences and literature, I'm most interested in how we connect and behave online (and sometimes in real life too.) The human experience is weird, so I try my best to put its peculiarities in writing. As a person who grew up chronically online, I now try to marry two sides of myself: the one who knows too much about MySpace, and the one who can't settle and needs to see every corner of the world.

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I'm the Visual Editor at Bored Panda, responsible for ensuring that everything our audience sees is top-notch and well-researched. What I love most about my job? Discovering new things about the world and immersing myself in exceptional photography and art.

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What do you think ?

POST

Karl 12 months ago

I take the view that my time is not yours to waste

25points

WonderWoman 12 months ago

Chronically late people do not respect other people. PERIOD. No matter how much fun these people are when they finally show up, remember, they dissed you by being late. It is not difficult to get places at the appropriate time.

16points

Jayjay 12 months ago

Why do some people think that after agreeing to meet at a certain time is optional?

11points

- 12 months ago

One of my friends explained that she had to be punctual for jobs (hers were on call with varied hours), so she hated being punctual for friends. I suspect she treated the time of a arrival like the time of departure.

4points

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