Hacker News Reader

Comment by normloman | Hacker News Reader

You miss my point. We can all agree that being late is bad. But why villianize late people as selfish, when in reality, most are just absent minded.

View on HN

I agree, this also struck me as a very judgmental article. I understand that some people are late because they lack respect. But that doesn't mean EVERY person that's late, does so for the same reason. One of my old professors was usually a bit late, but he had a heart of gold and really had no intention of being rude, he was just extremely disorganized in every possible way. But at the end of the day, he would often stays hours after class helping people without getting paid (on a Friday). I learned so much from him because he genuinely cared. Society is so quick to point at people and make judgements. Like normloman said, ... this article needs to chill out a bit.

Usually, judgmental behavior stems from the incredible all-encompassing feeling of self-importance of those making a judgment.

Chilling out is a preferred course of action. Also, hundreds of millions of people are parts of the cultures where it's absolutely normal to be late.

The US isn't generally one of those cultures - expecting someone brought up in the US culture of timeliness to act like a Spaniard when someone else is late will is not a reasonable expectation.

Not to mention, those inconvenienced by the late party also have expectations they have to meet, and so on. A professor who is 20 minutes late but still wants to lecture for a full hour can make you late for your next class, for which you are punished, not the previous lecturer.

Should we chill? To a certain point. But after that point, it's our lives which are negatively affected, and being annoyed at someone who is making our lives harder is hardly unreasonable.

Absent mindedness is a character flaw. It's fair game to blame or villianize someone over it.

Wow, this is one petty evil comment.

I don't agree. It definitely is a character flaw. Mind that we are talking about chronically late people. So, that equates being late with being an asshole with no respect for other people's time.

Being absent-minded just shows that someone doesn't care enough to make an effort. Someone who cares about something will not be absent-minded about it if they are willing to try.

>Someone who cares about something will not be absent-minded about it if they are willing to try.

I'd prefer a person who is constantly late than a one with your attitude.

I'm absent minded. Now my phone reminds me. Problem solved.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com