There is this old adage that has stuck around in old white man culture for quite some time that goes, "If you are five minutes early, you are 10 minutes late."
I don't really buy into this. Like, at all.
I get the point it's trying to make: you want to be respectful of everyone's time, no matter who it is, and no matter what the circumstances are. Being late is rude.
But why is it a crime to just be on time? I respect my own time too. I'm definitely not going to assume my time is more important than that of whoever I'm meeting with, but I'm also not going to assume it's far less important. How about we all just, you know, respect each other's time and meet when we say we're gonna meet? If I say, "Let's meet at 11:00," what I really mean is, "Let's meet at 11:00." I don't want you getting there at 10:45 and making me feel guilty for not buying into some antiquated man code that says we're going to waste 15 minutes every time we do something.
For anyone that ever has to meet with me for anything: if you are five minutes early, then you are five minutes early. I'm not going to give you a trophy. I'm just going to give you five minutes to think about what you're going to tell me when I inevitably arrive exactly when I said I would.
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