Being chronically late can cost you
Posted
Apr 25 2008, 09:02 PM
by
Karen Datko
"Financegirl" at Finance Gets Personal admits that she's one of the chronically late. "You know that person who comes in to work 20 minutes late every day, keeps you waiting at the restaurant, and interrupts church by trying to find a seat during the prayer? That's me," she confesses in a post called "The costs of chronic lateness."
She hadn't really thought it's a big deal, but now she realizes it's costing her money: speeding tickets, missed-appointment fees at the physical therapist, late-pickup fees at her stepson's after-school program, a bonus opportunity lost at work because it only went to employees who are chronically on time. (Plus, she says, sometimes habitually late people get fired.)
This blogger now has an action plan.
"I've tried a lot of things to break my habit, but here's one that might actually work: charging myself money when I am late," she writes. She realizes she'll have to donate it to charity. Otherwise, she'd use it to snowflake her debt, which would actually be a reward.
We hope this helps. While lateness hasn't bothered her so much, it annoys other people, including her co-workers. They're the same people, she wryly observes, who "also think that it's OK for them to leave early, take half-hour personal phone calls, and go to the gym during work hours."
