The Student Room Group

am i in the wrong for being upset with my friend for always being late?

my friend who i’ve become really close with since starting university has always been late to EVERYTHING. at first it was just a funny thing and i would laugh it off and continue with our plans, but this is something that is consistent every time we hang out.

i understand being 5,10,15, even 30 minutes late. it happens to everyone, including myself more times than id like to admit. but my friend is always late by AT LEAST 2 hours and at this point i just find it rude. she lives a 3 minute walk away from me and will say she’s leaving her house finally only to be another 30+ minutes. at this point im starting to get fed up but every time i bring it up she over apologises and says stuff like “everyone is always mad at me” or “im just trying to have a good time” and then i feel bad and let it go.

in reality i just feel so disrespected.
literally yesterday a friend invited us to her house for dinner at 8pm which she had cooked all by herself, but because my friend was LATE again we didn’t manage to get to our friends house until 9:30pm and i felt so bad as our friend had cooked us so much nice food.

another example is when i had work, and my friend had left her id with me the night before when we went out. she asked to come collect it at 8pm….. i waited until 10pm before falling asleep and being woken up to spam calls asking if she can come get it, knowing fully well i had work at 4am the next morning. she didn’t show up until 11pm and this just really tipped me over the edge.

am i overreacting?? i don’t know how to go about this situation.
Original post by hmmmmmmmmclover
my friend who i’ve become really close with since starting university has always been late to EVERYTHING. at first it was just a funny thing and i would laugh it off and continue with our plans, but this is something that is consistent every time we hang out.

i understand being 5,10,15, even 30 minutes late. it happens to everyone, including myself more times than id like to admit. but my friend is always late by AT LEAST 2 hours and at this point i just find it rude. she lives a 3 minute walk away from me and will say she’s leaving her house finally only to be another 30+ minutes. at this point im starting to get fed up but every time i bring it up she over apologises and says stuff like “everyone is always mad at me” or “im just trying to have a good time” and then i feel bad and let it go.

in reality i just feel so disrespected.
literally yesterday a friend invited us to her house for dinner at 8pm which she had cooked all by herself, but because my friend was LATE again we didn’t manage to get to our friends house until 9:30pm and i felt so bad as our friend had cooked us so much nice food.

another example is when i had work, and my friend had left her id with me the night before when we went out. she asked to come collect it at 8pm….. i waited until 10pm before falling asleep and being woken up to spam calls asking if she can come get it, knowing fully well i had work at 4am the next morning. she didn’t show up until 11pm and this just really tipped me over the edge.

am i overreacting?? i don’t know how to go about this situation.

You are not wrong for being upset..

To be fair, your actually enabling her behaviour. For the dinner, you should have arranged to meet her your friend's house (given you knew she'd likely be late), and you should have told the host not to wait before serving dinner. Had you all finished the meal by the time your "late" friend arrived, she might have got the hint that the world doesn't revolve around her. Similarly with the id she'd left with you. Once she was 30 minutes late you could have reasonably locked the door and turned off your phone. That way she would have experienced the consequences of her actions. Right now, what's the downside (from her perspective) of her behaviour? None. So why would she change?

Having said that, people like this rarely change anyway. She'll likely be late for her own funeral.

Reply 2

Original post by DataVenia
You are not wrong for being upset..
To be fair, your actually enabling her behaviour. For the dinner, you should have arranged to meet her your friend's house (given you knew she'd likely be late), and you should have told the host not to wait before serving dinner. Had you all finished the meal by the time your "late" friend arrived, she might have got the hint that the world doesn't revolve around her. Similarly with the id she'd left with you. Once she was 30 minutes late you could have reasonably locked the door and turned off your phone. That way she would have experienced the consequences of her actions. Right now, what's the downside (from her perspective) of her behaviour? None. So why would she change?
Having said that, people like this rarely change anyway. She'll likely be late for her own funeral.

thank you for your response, i completely agree with you. i can definitely see how i enable it, its just so hard to stand up for yourself when ill just be called up tight or whatever for having an issue with it

ill definitely try harder though thank you
Original post by hmmmmmmmmclover
thank you for your response, i completely agree with you. i can definitely see how i enable it, its just so hard to stand up for yourself when ill just be called up tight or whatever for having an issue with it

ill definitely try harder though thank you

I think the trick is not to actually take issue with it. So don't complain about her lateness, or even comment on it. Simply don't accommodate it.

So in the dinner scenario, you don't make any comment that she's late. You've just all eaten already by the time she arrives. No big deal. There's plenty left for her to eat.

With the id, when she calls to say you're coming around you tell her you need to get to bed early as you have a 4am start. Once she's missed her arrival time you just turn off your phone. When she complains the next day (because she couldn't get in), you just brush it off as no big deal and hand her id to her.

So you don't complain about her lateness, you simply stop making allowances for it.

Reply 4

This sort of thing drives me nuts. There does appear to be people with a pathological disorganisation that they just can’t defeat, so it may not be as disrespectful as it feels. Your friend seems to have an extreme case. You could try giving them an ultimatum but I fear they won’t change. Perhaps try knocking a couple of hours from the start time you tell them

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