Chronic Lateness
Hello all, it's been awhile since I've used this.
Today was a particularly rough day because I woke up nearly 2 hours late for work. The problem being that I picked up this shift as a favor for a coworker, but my body is very much adapted to closing shifts (context: I work at a casual good restaurant, making salads, bowls, etc.). I usually work closing shifts because I'm the most reliable when it comes to it according to my boss. So I had trouble going to sleep early, if at all, and so I paid for that consequence by being late and missing some online orders that ultimately got cancelled.
This may sound like a one-time thing, but the unfortunate thing is, this is far from the first time. I'll be late for school, meetings, appointments, and even just hanging out with friends, I'll always be a few minutes late. It's gotten to the point where my family, friends or co workers will joke about me being late. It's one thing when it's a poke at Asians for running on "Asian time", but other times, it's just embarrassing and shameful that I'm the butt of the joke for tardiness that may/may not be in my control.
I've never officially gotten diagnosed for anything, and there have been instances where I can get my way through, but most of the time, it's either the result of being too early, not being there or at all, or worst, I just sacrifice not sleeping for the sake of not being late, usually in the case of school or work. I also used to confront this in a decent way by purposely doingn something ahead of time so that I'm set up, but nowadays, I just feel like my whole schedule is a mess because of external factors like financial concerns, still getting over a breakup, and just feeling lost in my life. Thank you for reading this far, and I apologize for rambling, I'm just unsure of what to do.
@ThomasN
Maybe if you are stressed and feel things are out of your control ... being late may be a tiny way of you saying you will do it when you are ready. Other then the joking by friends or family what is important to you.
I am habitually early while my spouse is he will get there eventually. What do you feel when late ? do you apologize or rationalize ?
Are alarms or plans to combat tardiness ineffective OR not worth the effort?
@toughTiger6481 When I feel late, I just feel horribly guilty. I always feel like I have to apologize for anything and everything that occurs, whether direct or indirect. Even on days when I arrive to anything early, it's not like it ever gets acknowledged. But god forbid say I have a normal streak of attendance, then 1 day i slip up, it all comes back as "You're always consistently late". It just makes me feel more bummed out, that it gets to this point where I want to improve heavily just in spite of everyone poking fun or even heavily roasting me for it.
Consistency to combat my tardiness becomes tricky when my own work schedule is inconsistent. This is definitely out of my own control, but my work just schedules whenever it's convenient, so it always feels like I'm super reliant on that, amongst other things. I guess it's just I haven't found a strong enough reason to set a routine unless I'm forced into one (ex. a school schedule or a solid 9-5 office job)
