I think it's just plain disrespect

This is going to be a rant, so bear with me.

Have you ever been to meetings where the meeting was supposed to start a particular time, but people arrive a LOT later than they were supposed to? I know this happens predominantly in India, so my apologies to someone from outside this country who is reading this. But if you have interacted with Indians in general, you would know what I am talking about.

This all stems from an incident that happened last week which really got under my skin. I obviously cannot narrate the details of the event, but it bothered me nonetheless. I meant to post sooner, but hey, I have people wasting my time, so...

There have been times when a meeting starts a few HOURS after it was originally scheduled and all this while, one is just sitting there twiddling one's thumbs. Now I've been working for quite a few years now and should be fairly inoculated to this behaviour, but I'm NOT! I still get riled up over people not sticking to the time they commit to.

And the crux of the matter is this: Indians have no respect for anyone else's time except their own. They have this distinct feeling that only what THEY are doing is of paramount importance and everything else can wait. What they fail to understand is that EVERYONE is doing exactly that. That's why you see the traffic in chaos...everyone is in a hurry to get where they are going and inevitably cause a delay for everyone.

Earlier, I used to think that we Indians are short on patience. That this impatience drives our behaviour in traffic as well as places where you are expected to queue up. Naturally everyone wants to get their work done as quickly as possible, so has to be impatience, right?

Wrong!

It's sheer disrespect for the other person. "I don't care what you think, I think this way and I'm going for it". That's why we see Indians breaking queues (if they even exist), invade people's personal spaces without realising, talk out of turn, cut people off, etc etc etc.

And there lies my point. being late for something is DISRESPECTFUL to the other person. It is a blatant way of saying "I don't respect you and your time. Your time has no value for me!"

People think punctuality is a good character trait to have...and it is - don't get me wrong - it most definitely is, but not for the reasons you would think. Punctuality means that you are willing to make an effort to stick to a commitment you made, but more importantly, it conveys that you respect the other person and his/her time to not want to waste it by making them wait.

We all have a limited few seconds on this glorious planet. Is there any point in wasting them in some waiting room or some conference room or some phone call or a traffic jam? Instead, if we just respected the other person and their time and their right, as much as yours, to exist on this planet, then we would be a much better country.

It sure as hell won't change overnight, but it has to start somewhere. Change always starts with one, and I for one am going to make it a point to let people know how I feel when they abuse my time.

End Rant!