You know how you tell certain people that dinner will be an hour earlier than you actually plan to serve it, because they're always an hour late?

I'm talking about those people who, if you absolutely positively have to leave at 7:00, you tell them you absolutely positively have to leave no later than six?

Well, after I retire, my plan is to start staying up until 9:00 or 9:30, but not tell anybody! Because if I TELL people, then the people that call at 8:00 or 8:30 even when I've told them 500 times that Bob is asleep at 8:00 and I'm usually in bed shortly after that I'm staying up an hour longer, they're just going to call at 9:30.

I SHOULD have told them I go to bed at 7:00 so they'd call at 7:30, and I'd still be up.

What ails people, anyway? (said my grandmother)

I tell people the same thing!! Don't call after 8:00 unless it is an emergency - but I don't usually go to bed until 8:30 or 9

good luck!!!!

Do you have a cell phone? If you do, I'd turn OFF the ringers on my landline and tell my family to only call my cell phone if it's after bedtime and an emergency. You could also put a message on your outgoing voicemail that goes something like this: "It's after 8:00 PM and we've gone to bed. Please leave a message or call again tomorrow before 8 PM." On second thought - you might want to say call before 7 PM 'cause then they'll call at 8!!

I am one of those always "arrive" late people....(10 or 15 minutes)but I do not call folks late...OR early for that matter....Its 5:15 am here in Utah and 6:15 back home....I would "NEVER" call unless I "KNEW" it was okay...

But my folks use to say all the time that I would be late to my own funeral...........I was known as "POKEY" when I was a kid.....
Its not that I intend to be late....I just always try to do "just one more thing" before I go.....

Besides as far as the mealtimes....."I" am usually the one cooking so we eat when "I" say so!!!!!lol

When I serve dinner, I tell everyone be there at 7 or YOUR dinner will be served with everyone else. If you like it cold, show up late. I WONT be holding dinner, for late arrivals. My sister used to be late for everything! it kept the rest of us waiting for her highness to arrive. really ticked me off when I worked for hours on a dish, and she strolls in like "what?" Im ALWAYS late! how could you not expect me to be? I got fed up and said ya know what? your right! dinner is at 7. if you want yours cold, show up late. she starting showing up at 6:55.

We worked an odd shift in our house, and sometimes we didtn get home till 4 or 5 am, and wanted to sleep during the day. Black out curtains, and so forth. It was a requirement of the job that you be reachable in case of riot or whatever, so we couldnt unplug the phone. I understood when business or MDs called to confirm appointments but when SIL would call to chatter about the weather or the meatloaf at lunch, it was too much. I put down strict rules, and said from 7am to 7pm NO personal phone calls. yes, for a while they woke me up, but ALL went to the answering machine. the machine had a reminder message that if you were calling for an emergency SPEAK LOUDLY I can hear the machine. if you were calling for anything other than emergencies, please DONT leave a message, and call back when you know we are awake, and you are not disturbing us. the same as calling YOUR house at 4am wanting to catch up. It took only 2 or three times for it to stop. since they knew they were not going to speak to us no matter what, and it was a reminder that they were being rude, it worked.

good for you!

We have a running family joke. If a party starts at 2, we'll all add "That's noon, Carol time!"

She is always running late, like she has her own time zone.



I leave my cell on, but turn my land line ringers down. They won't wake me, but I'll hear them if I'm up. (I never know if I'll be asleep, when I'll sleep)

Everybody else is generally asleep before me, and they KNOW not to call the cell at night until they try the landline unless it's an emergency.

Huh.. I guess I'm lucky people treat me that well.

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

LOL, my hubby has his own time zone too. Used to be a running joke with his family that no matter what time he said he'd show up, it would be around 3pm no matter what.

You know, I don't have a problem with the random person who calls at 8:30 or even 9:00. The average person is no doubt up and about, so how would they know?

The problem I have is with friends and family who have been TOLD we have an early schedule, and they call anyway. And when I pick up the phone and croak "...uh...h'lo?" it STILL doesn't click. Do they say, "Oh no, I'm so sorry, I forgot you go to bed early!" No, they just start yapping away.

Some friends of mine who were farming and getting up at 2:00to start chores used to go to bed around 6:00 p.m. Those of us who knew them just didn't call them in the evening, regardless of whether it was "convenient" for us or not.

We cared about them enough to make a point of remembering their unusual time schedule.

All of my friends and family know that, if it's important, they can call any time, day or night. But it's pretty frustrating when people who allege to care about you don't care enough to remember a simple thing such as "they go to bed early."

Definitely about people who are late for dinner and everything, I tried telling this friend that dinner would be at 7 PM , planning to serve it at 8 PM. She would then say that 7 was too early for them; they would come at 7:30...You guessed...8:30 I was still waiting... I definitely agree with the control issue or having 'their own time zone'...: I had to laugh at that one!

I love the suggestion about the cell phone in case of emergency for family only. We take the phone off the hook after 10 P.M. or so and it does not go back on the cradle until 9 or 9:30 am because of the many wrong numbers and others...