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Two potential solutions: 1. Plan around it - be somewhere where the person being late doesn't affect you. Have people meet you at your home or at a cafe where

Two potential solutions: 1. Plan around it - be somewhere where the person being late doesn't affect you. Have people meet you at your home or at a cafe where you're doing other work or reading a book and it doesn't adversely affect you. Oftentimes, if I'm traveling with a group of people, I give a time range - "Be there between 7:30PM and 8PM" - that lets the early birds get there at 7:30, and the "oh shoot! gotta run!" people ideally get there by 8PM, but the early birds don't get offended and feel disrespected (I'm more or less an early bird, I hate being late - but I've got some friends and acquaintances who just aren't that way). 2. If you really want to get people to cut it out, make real world consequences. Say "the meeting starts at 9:05 sharp, the doors will be shut and no one will be admitted after that." Think really hard if the situation calls for it, but it does work if you do stuff like that. If you're a professor, you could say to anyone coming in late - "get out. see you next week." You won't have people showing up late if you announce you're going to do that and follow through. Up to you to judge if you want that sort of environment, and you've got to really be on top of things and deliver straight out the gate if you're being hardcore that people have to be there. But it does work.

btilly 16y ago
When I was teaching my solution was that homework which was not at the front of the table, at the start of class, was not accepted. I also graded people on only a certain number of homeworks, so missing a homework or two was not a big deal. It worked. Class started on time, with the question and answer period that I thought was the most important part of class, but which the students probably didn't realize was that important. (Well they did partway into the course. But that is another story.)

btilly 16y ago

When I was teaching my solution was that homework which was not at the front of the table, at the start of class, was not accepted. I also graded people on only a certain number of homeworks, so missing a homework or two was not a big deal. It worked. Class started on time, with the question and answer period that I thought was the most important part of class, but which the students probably didn't realize was that important. (Well they did partway into the course. But that is another story.)