Photo: SWNS
A study of 3,000 American adults found “early is on time,” with more than half admitting they are “obsessed” with timekeeping, according to SWNS.
Anything past 13 minutes is considered “late,” and an organized 56% plan ahead to ensure they are never running behind schedule.
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Seven in 10 friend groups have a person who is especially known to be late — but less than a quarter admitted they are “that friend.”
A further 47% have even sneakily told a friend that a meeting time was earlier than it was, so if they showed up late they were actually on time.
And it only takes five times of being late for people to feel upset with others.
More than a third pride themselves on being typically early to scheduled social events or meetings, while 45% are usually “on time” and a 10th are often late.
Half of the adults surveyed have been criticized for their time-keeping habits — whether too early or too late.
However, lockdown has made the nation live “slower” (35%) and 55% have enjoyed not having the pressure of being somewhere at a specific time.
The study also found the most used excuses for being late included blaming the traffic (37%), a morning alarm not going off (33%) and the car not starting (32%).
Americans typically feel anxious (43%), annoyed (36%) and concerned (28%) if it’s looking like they’re going to be late anywhere.
Top occasions and events people stress about being late to include job interviews (33%), medical appointments (31%) and the airport (29%).
The latest respondents have ever been to an agreed meeting time was found to be 27 minutes, which left them feeling apologetic (43%), embarrassed (39%) and stressed (35%).
While men are more likely to feel embarrassed and anxious about being late, women are more likely to laugh it off.
But the past year in and out of lockdowns has changed the general concept of time for 33% of adults, while 47% said it’s even impacted their mealtimes.
More than a third said they have eaten when they felt like it rather than at set times – including 28% having breakfast later than usual and 28% enjoyed more “in-between” meals such as brunch.
source: people.com
