Pets and African Peeves

So like if you know me, like as in know me even by a bit, you will know how much I detest being ‘late’.

I am not sure when the feeling became a thing, but for as long as I can remember, lateness is a habit that really, really grates on me. I can’t stand it. I can’t condone it. Especially being raised in a continent currently famous for being so late, we have our own timezone abbreviation; African Timing (AT).

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So “What is African timing?”, I hear some of the cogs in your minds ask.

Well, African timing, is the time by which Africans actually attend an event.

“That’s not so bad…”

Well, no. It is horrible. See we don’t attend the event by the time set by the organiser. To be honest, I think we have become ‘too cool’ to do that, so instead we arrive +1/+2 hours after the event has actually started.

“I don’t get it”

Err… Say an event begins at 7pm GMT sharp. African timing dictates the party begins (if we had the +/-2 AT) at 9pm. Everyone else is just unnaturally early.

“…but the party started at 7pm…”

No. You say 7pm but you really mean 9pm.

“So you say if I organise a party, and put the start time to 7pm… Then the Africans will be there for…”

9pm.

“Wow.”

Yup.

“But that’s horrible.”

Hey!!! That is what I said!
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Ignoring the slightly humorous conversation above, I really do hate lateness. I find it to connote a lot of things I am not comfortable with. Personally, lateness to me is a sense/sign of irresponsibility.

And as such, when I find myself late to work/party/event regardless of circumstance, I get visibly frustrated (briefly more often than not) because I feel like I’ve let my manager/friend/organiser down.

So I work on it. I try to eliminate possibilities of that happening.

“What’s the point of this post then?”

None. I just wanted to rant about a pet peeve. Don’t you have one too?