Wait, who's that? Oh, it's the business colleague who always arrives super-early to everything. Yes, it's time to discuss the overly-punctual co-worker!
This blog has already covered the co-worker who always shows up late, as well as the co-worker who always leaves early.
In fact, we've discussed a lot of time-related workplace behavior on this blog, but we've never discussed the co-worker who always -- always! -- shows up way too early.
I'm not talking about the business colleague who arrives with five or 10 minutes to spare. That's pretty much common practice for the commonly-punctual professional.
No, I'm talking about the working professional who is chronically 15/20/30/45 minutes early -- whether it's to a meeting, a working lunch, the boss's dinner party, the break-out session, the one-on-one discussion, or a co-worker's birthday party.
You schedule it, and this work colleague is sure to be the first one sitting there, glancing at his watch, and making you feel like you're running late, even though you're actually five minutes early! Perhaps he will have already taken the liberty of seating himself for your impending working lunch and waves you down from the back of the restaurant as he sips a soda.
Let's hope he hasn't already taken the time to order his food, too.
Don't get me wrong; it very good personal practice to be on time. Many of us grew up being told to arrive at least five to 10 minutes early as a sign of respect for the other person's time. It's a great life lesson.
But how too early is too early in a work setting? And is showing up more than 15 minutes early actually rude work behavior?
Believe it or not, my online research turned up divided, and somewhat heated, opinions on the topic. There are those who say it doesn't bother them when someone is egregiously early; they figure it's this work colleague's "way" and it has no bearing on their own schedule, or time management habits.
For others, however, it's bothersome, and highly annoying, when a business colleague continually shows up way too early. This colleague is obviously showing off by exhibiting such extreme punctuality, or must not be working very hard if he or she has 25 minutes to sit around and wait for the meeting to start!
Some employees can also begin to feel a subtle pressure to be extremely early themselves when working alongside these timely types. They don't want to feel "late" for showing up 10 minutes early.
Of course, there's the case to be made for commuting. We had to get across town for a meeting and expected very bad traffic, but the commute turned out to be a breeze. Hence, we arrived 30 minutes early.
Or we had to find the meeting location, and so we left with generous time to spare only to arrive 25 minutes early. That's how it goes sometimes. We've all been there.
It's in these moments, however, when we have a quick decision to make. Do we go ahead and take a seat at the restaurant, check in at the reception desk, or otherwise make our presence known to our business colleagues a full 30 minutes early?
Well, put me firmly in the "show up five-to-10 minutes early, but no earlier" camp. I figure the other person is very busy wrapping up a few things before our meeting, and doesn't need me showing up 30 minutes ahead of time. I can wait, somewhere else, until it's time to show up a few minutes early. This type of situation is what coffee shops, cars, and fast food places were made for.
If a work colleague always makes you feel "late" even though you showed up five minutes early, then simply remember that YOU'RE NOT LATE. Your work colleague was too early. You shouldn't feel pressured to start showing up 25 minutes early because you know this business colleague is already there. Stick to the schedule.
If you tend to run very early to everything -- and you have your reasons for doing so! -- then remember that it's your decision to show up so early. If your work colleague shows up two minutes early, then he or she IS NOT LATE. In fact, he or she has arrived with time to spare.
And wait for your on-time work colleague(s) to arrive before being seated at a restaurant. It's just the nice thing to do, IMHO.
So can showing up super-early be interpreted as rude work behavior?
Hmm. It depends. I think it can be interpreted as rudeness if we make our presence known in an "I'm here, why aren't you here?" kind of way a half an hour ahead of time. (Answer: We're probably still in another meeting, or wrapping something up. We'll look forward to seeing you in about 25 minutes!)
Well, time's up and I started with time to spare, too! Feel free to share your experiences with the way-too-early work colleague, and your advice for handling it. I'll be waiting.
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