In all my life, I've never met ANYONE who's said "don't call after 8:00". That really is very, very early.

Most people don't get home from work till 5:30 or later, then they have to cook dinner, get kids on their homework, wind down, etc. By the time anyone gets around to making those calls, it would be around 8:00 - 9:00.

For me, it can take a week or two to get a phone call to someone back east, because by the time it occurs to me or is convenient, it's already 10:00 their time. I would never call THAT late though.

I understand that is not acceptable to you, however that's most likely the reason that people do it. It comes down to convenience for them, and there probably has to be some compromise with this issue, given this is SOOoooooo early.

(I like the idea of a cell phone number, given out only to those who might have an emergency . . . then unplugging your main line at 8:00.)

As far as people coming "fashionably late", I think this is a control issue. I had a friend like that, and it never failed that she was an hour late for everything. We did have to start backing up the stated time for an event by one hour, and worked for the most part.

She just had no respect for schedules, other then what suited her own personal agenda. That is easy enough to fix (for her), but she preferred for the world to revolve around her lack of organization.

Cherie