Comments on: The Person Who Can’t Keep Appointments

By: CathyLevin

CathyLevin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 03:22:09 +0000

BOTTOM LINE IT IS EXTREMELY RUDE AND PEOPLE WHO DO THIS ON A REGULAR BASIS ARE ETHER ALCOHOLICS, RECOVERING ALCOHOLICS THAT STILL LIE, OR PEOPLE WHO ARE NARCISSISTIC ENOUGH TO THINK THERE TIME IS WORTH MORE THAN OTHERS.

By: CathyLevin

CathyLevin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:22:09 +0000

By: PhilipNowak

PhilipNowak — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:58:01 +0000

One of the best ways to deal with time wasters is to pre-qualify them in the first place. I often receive emails or LinkedIn messages from individuals who would like to brainstorm, network or “pick-my-brain (@ginidietrich loves this phrase)”. If I find the meeting to be of value to both parties, I accept and reply with my availability. As my schedule tends to fill up looking forward into the next 2 weeks, I usually suggest a time and date 3-4 weeks out unless it is an urgent meeting. I also ask for a concise agenda for the meeting and what the individual would like to get out of the meeting. Amazingly enough, these two qualifiers eliminate most time-wasters. I am always shocked at the drop-off and lack of response (and courtesy) after I send this email reply. I guess the meeting wasn’t worth a 2 minute email reply after all.

By: TMNinja

TMNinja — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 17:27:15 +0000

@robbyslaughter @Heather Agree! If someone cancels on me more than once… it comes off my calendar. They pretty much need to catch up to me in person if they want back on the schedule.

By: robbyslaughter

robbyslaughter — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:09:11 +0000

@Heather Usually, I send an email a day or two later saying “I missed you” but not offering any dates to reschedule. I won’t reschedule a missed appointment without at least another two weeks.

By: robbyslaughter

robbyslaughter — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:08:14 +0000

First: five minutes before an offsite appointment is ready to begin, I try to always send the other person a text that says “I’m here in the back corner! See you soon.” That way they know you are on-time, and it gives them the chance to pre-emptively apologize if they are late.

This leads me to my main point: the best way to deal with people who are late to appointments is to have something else productive to do while you are waiting. That way, when they show up they see you are busy and have the sense that they may have inadvertantly attempted to waste your time, but you refuse to allow your time to be wasted.

An additional point is that the longer they make you wait, the more intense your tasks should be. For example, you can start out by catching up on reading or processing some email. But if they have made you wait for a full ten minutes, I suggest making phone calls. Then when they arrive, you can motion for them to sit down while you wrap up. There’s no need to rush at this point, since they’ve already made you wait. And you can finish the call with an indirect phrase: “Hey, I need to let you go, my 3:00 appointment is here.”

By: Weekend Reading: My fav’s from this week: 7/2/10 | Heather Villa

Weekend Reading: My fav’s from this week: 7/2/10 | Heather Villa — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 00:59:17 +0000

[...] The Person Who Can’t Keep Appointments – How do you deal with people that are always late? This post talks about ways you can defend your time from those individuals whom are always late. From making them come see you to stop dealing with them entirely it’s all in here. [...]

By: Nina ♥

Nina ♥ — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:18:04 +0000

I try to be subtle and persuasive.

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:07:05 +0000

Single best thing you can do at a meeting is show up on time. That nearly always equals finishing early. Better still, show up early.

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:26:03 +0000

This is a huge pet peeve of mine. I use the start without you and schedule in a buffer the most from your list.

The other thing I do is if someone it late for a one-on-one meeting with me, I don't reschedule right away. I will wait a day or two to respond back to reschedule. I can't remember a time when someone was late the second go around.