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| #Post#: 82006-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Always late - when is it OK to proceed alone? | |
| By: SnappyLT Date: July 21, 2025, 3:43 pm | |
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| Although this is a genuine question, based upon real events, it | |
| is hypothetical, because the events actually happened more than | |
| 30 years ago. | |
| Background: For the first twenty or so years of our marriage, my | |
| wife was almost always late to almost everything. (Since then | |
| she has greatly improved.) | |
| At first, I was late alongside her, because as a newlywed | |
| husband I believed that it was my duty to be with her even if | |
| she was late. | |
| My behavior changed after my wife's refusal to get ready on time | |
| caused us to miss an international flight. After that, if I | |
| wanted to be on time somewhere, I would get in my car and drive | |
| separately. My wife would follow along in her car fifteen to | |
| fifty minutes later. (If I didn't care about being on time in a | |
| particular situation, I would wait and go late with my wife.) | |
| We never missed another flight, though. Somehow my wife was able | |
| to be on time for flights after that experience. | |
| Hypothetical questions: What if my wife had not changed her | |
| behavior regarding being on time for flights? | |
| What if she had refused to get ready on time for another flight | |
| after that first experience? Would it have been "good manners" | |
| for me to have gone to the airport on time in my own car? Would | |
| it have been good manners for me to board a plane on my own if | |
| she had refused to get ready on time again? | |
| I got to where it didn't bother me (much) to drive myself to, | |
| say, a family party on time, and then have my wife show up late, | |
| on her own. | |
| But I think I would have had a hard time actually leaving for | |
| the airport - or actually boarding a plane - on my own if she | |
| was refusing to get ready on time. | |
| I'm thankful that never came up again. | |
| #Post#: 82008-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Always late - when is it OK to proceed alone? | |
| By: Rho Date: July 21, 2025, 9:32 pm | |
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| Boarding flights always involved hurrying across one of the | |
| largest airports in the U.S. due to my husbands sense of timing. | |
| A few years ago we literally ran across two concourses to | |
| barely make our flight. I read husband the riot act and when | |
| packing I always tell him I will NOT be running across the | |
| airport ever again. And we manage to leave the house with time | |
| to stroll to the gate. | |
| #Post#: 82010-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Always late - when is it OK to proceed alone? | |
| By: Hmmm Date: July 22, 2025, 10:15 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| I think the one being impolite would be your wife. Causing you | |
| to wait on her, making you feel rushed, and even worse is making | |
| you miss a flight are terrible manners. | |
| The issue would be that if you are traveling for vacation, the | |
| frostiness once she arrived hours or a day later would probably | |
| have ruined the trip for both of you. So while I think you would | |
| be in the right to go ahead and board, being right might not be | |
| worth it. | |
| #Post#: 82011-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Always late - when is it OK to proceed alone? | |
| By: lowspark Date: July 22, 2025, 11:29 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Writing my response in present tense even though I realize this | |
| is all over and resolved, but it's just easier. :) | |
| This is a tough one since it involves catching a flight. | |
| Say you don't wait for her, what will you do once you arrive at | |
| the destination? Will you go on to the hotel? Will you go on to | |
| do the vacation activities, whether preplanned or just off the | |
| cuff? | |
| What happens when she does arrive on a later flight -- is that | |
| later flight the same day? The next day? | |
| She then has to arrange her own transportation to the hotel, and | |
| then depending on the time of her arrival, figure out how to | |
| meet up with you wherever you may be. | |
| What if the ultimate destination is a cruise, or involves | |
| tickets to a particular attraction which cannot be obtained | |
| except in advance? Do you go on without her? | |
| To clarify, I think you are 100% in the right no matter what you | |
| choose to do... but you still have to deal with any fallout. | |
| People who are chronically late are essentially saying that | |
| their time is worth more than anyone else's. | |
| Additionally, those people inevitably CAN be on time when it | |
| really matters -- to them. | |
| So once your wife changed her ways for the international flight | |
| situation, she CLEARLY could change her behavior for ALL | |
| situation. | |
| She chose not to. | |
| I have known people like this. Fortunately, it was never a | |
| significant other. | |
| It's really crummy behavior. | |
| #Post#: 82015-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Always late - when is it OK to proceed alone? | |
| By: oogyda Date: July 23, 2025, 5:54 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=lowspark link=topic=2639.msg82011#msg82011 | |
| date=1753201752] | |
| People who are chronically late are essentially saying that | |
| their time is worth more than anyone else's. | |
| Additionally, those people inevitably CAN be on time when it | |
| really matters -- to them. | |
| [/quote] | |
| I agree with the above. | |
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