Short one today.. I’m sitting here at work – I work a job with 24 hour staffing.
Why can I blog? Because the person supposed to relieve me is taking their sweet time.
The shift replacing me is supposed to be here at 6:45. I then give a report to the oncoming person, and I’m done by 7:15.
My replacement comes in every day at 6:55. Gets a cup of coffee.. and doesn’t begin report until 7.
Now.. I only have to deal with her a couple times a month.. (A staff of 10 comes in to replace a staff of 8) – but I cringe when I see its going to be her.
You ever deal with this?
Similar situation…
As many of you know, I worked the night shift for a long time. Shifts were from 12:00 AM to 9:00 AM. My co-worker would routinely not come in until 1:00 AM or sometimes even later. At the time, we were salaried rather than hourly workers, so my principal concern was one of fairness.
There was, however, a coverage issue too. We often joked that the night shift required “one and a half people” because it was too much work for one person to do alone, and too little to keep two people fully busy all night long. For that hour that I’d work alone, I’d fall behind and not fully serve the people I was supposed to be helping because I could only keep up with the most critical issues.
Fast-forward a year later. The co-worker left to go to another job. I now work days, as much as I’d like to go back to nights.
The only moral of the story is that irritating situations with co-workers are like constipation. Eventually, they will pass. It may be painful and take a really long time, but it’s only temporary. If it doesn’t kill you.
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Matthew P. Barnson
It’s About Respect
People who are perpetually late lack respect for those whom they are tardy in meeting. It’s all about respect. If you placed a high importance on a person or event, you wouldn’t be late. If you placed high respect for a person or system in which you habitually routine, then you wouldn’t be late.
Talking about the lateness won’t change anything if her respect for you and the situation doesn’t change.
Disagree…
While I think that, from the perspective of the person kept waiting, it may be about “respect”, I disagree that it has anything to do with respecting the people with whom you are meeting.
I’ve had problems with lateness before. Here are some of the reasons: * Scheduling conflict * Traffic (10-15 minutes, tops. Unless it made the nightly news, you can’t blame extreme tardiness on traffic. You left late.) * Getting that extra 15 minutes of sleep. * Misplacing your schedule or planner. * Forgot something important at home/work/school.
There are lots more reasons, but the person who is late doesn’t feel that they lack respect for you. In fact, you probably aren’t on their mind at all. They aren’t thinking, “If I’m late, Timpane won’t have enough time to get an adequate report and leave for home on time,” it’s “If I’m late, nobody minds, so I can get this one thing done before I leave.”
Recently, I was an hour late for a presentation I was supposed to give. The reason? I’d grabbed my laptop bag, not realizing the laptop was still connected on the desk.
Lateness and time-management problems tend to follow people who are disorganized. Unfortunately, I place myself in that category.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
HOWEVER
The constancy with which this happens is the issue. I’ve been late.. and it comes with an apology and an extra effort to make up the the work in a faster time..
This person comes in 10 mins late, then goes and gets coffee.. and never EVER mentions that she was even late.
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Respectfully agreeing
While habitual tardiness may not be as blatantly disrespectful as spitting on someone’s shoes, it does show where you regard someone relative to you in the grand heirarchy of life. Would you be late to a job interview? To a monthly meeting with your boss’s boss’s boss? Even unorganized people will prepare the night before, leave with a 15 minute driving cushion, etc. in order to be on time for truly important events (although something can still slip once in a while). If you are late every day to meet someone, you are communicating that you regard the other person’s time as less important than yours.
This is even used in heirarchal positioning, in which leaders show up late and say, “catch me up on the meeting,” or leave early, cutting it short. These moves demonstrate the greater worth of the leader to the group. But they’re not particularly respectful.