Don’t Be Late

At Gretchen Whitney High School (WHS), students often complain that the consequences for being late to class are unfair or too strict: four tardies result in one hour of detention, five tardies result in two hours, seven tardies result in three hours, eight tardies result in six hours, and nine tardies result in eight hours.

WHS heavily emphasizes punctuality and is not wrong for doing so. Being on time is an important trait to possess because it says a lot about one’s character.

WHS senior Daphne Chiang told JSR, “It’s important to be on time because it shows a sense of commitment and responsibility to your organization. Being on time is one of the little things that really shows a person’s true personality and work ethic.”

Being prompt is a quality that helps build one’s trustworthiness, responsibility, and organization. Therefore, being late lessens these qualities. There may not be any immediate consequences once or twice, but being late can easily become habitual. One tardy encourages the next one, and then a pattern develops.

Chiang continued, “It is understandable that sometimes life gets ahead of us and we are late, but [if] showing up [late] is a recurring habit, I believe it can make the person lazy. You become used to being late, disregarding time and ultimately forgetting to care about yourself.

Imagine a scenario wherein a possible employee is late to a job interview, even by a few miniscule minutes. This would most likely give a bad impression to the employer. The hopeful person may display impressive characteristics, apparent eagerness, and dedication, but the unfavorable arrival could negate any of those traits. Opportunities can be lost because of tardiness.

IF you do expect to be late and it can’t be helped, the next best thing to do is to notify the people waiting for you to give them a sense of relief and awareness. Otherwise, always try to be on time as it not only demonstrates good qualities, but strengthens them too.