We had some people over for dinner a few weeks ago. When you throw a bash, a party or whatever, the big question is, \u201cWhen will they arrive?\u201d Or the reverse, when you\u2019re invited to someone else\u2019s house, \u201cWhen should we get there?\u201d <\/p>\n
Not on time! That\u2019s for sure. It\u2019s rude? Or is it? We all struggle with the issue. The time issue. If you\u2019ve ever arrived right on the button, you know how awkward it is. The hosts are unprepared. Still running around finishing preparations and then disappearing to take a shower and change their clothes. You sit there by yourself, feeling like an idiot. You only do this once, after that you make sure you\u2019re 15 minutes late, at a minimum. <\/p>\n
And how about the people who invite you over at six, but don\u2019t serve dinner until eight. You came hungry and your growling stomach keeps interrupting the conversation. <\/p>\n
The whole \u201cwhat time to get there\u201d thing creates a lot of unnecessary anxiety, for both sides of the invitation. Maybe it\u2019s time to fix it. Make the invitation honest. \u201cYou are invited for a picnic. We\u2019ll try to be ready for your arrival at five, but make sure you don\u2019t come until five-fifteen, just in case we fall behind. Don\u2019t come later than five-thirty; we\u2019ll start to wonder if you are coming at all and won\u2019t get the burgers going, causing early bird – Jim\u2019s stomach to start dominating the patio discussion. <\/p>\n
All that\u2019s great, except old coots like me are \u201con-time\u201d fanatics. We don\u2019t want to be late. For anything! I don\u2019t know why we get this way. Even those of us who never made it on time to anything when we were younger, shift gears when we get that first Social Security check. Maybe, it\u2019s because time is running out, and we now realize it and don\u2019t want to waste it. <\/p>\n
You can spot us parked outside stores, restaurants, banks and medical centers waiting for the place to open. It\u2019s why the \u201cearly bird special\u201d was invented. Restaurants got sick and tired of seeing a bunch of full size, four-door sedans clogging their parking lots with the left signal blinking an hour before opening time. So, they let us in, in hopes we\u2019d be gone by the time their regular customers arrived. <\/p>\n
A-la, the early bird special. They didn\u2019t even need to lower the price. <\/p>\n