You know the movie Jerry Maguire where Renée Zellweger says to the Tom Cruise character..”you had me at hello”…well when you arrive in late to my class, I feel exactly the opposite.
You arrive in late – 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes. Sometimes you apologise. Sometimes you don’t.
Recently I had someone turn up an hour late. I didn’t allow them in and they slammed the door on the way out. Someone else showed up late and I told them to come to another class and they did and they showed up on time.
When you arrive late, what it says to me is that you are disorganised and that you do not respect either your fellow learners or me.
Of course, I know that may not be the truth of the situation. There may be many reasons why you were late. But I also notice that you are often the person late back from the break.
You tell me then you didn’t catch what I said – because you weren’t there when I said it. Even though I had said before the break, that I would be starting at a particular time you arrive back late,and have to be told what file to open and I have to repeat again what I said.
There are other people there who want to move on but have to wait while I catch you up.
I have a reason why I am so pernickety about time and you may well think I have a poker up my a*** about it. Time is a non-renewable resource. I start on time and I finish on time. People have children to pick up, buses to catch and I want to make sure that I respect that and also cover as much material as possible to support you in your work.
When you show up late, I feel less inclined to help you – inside or outside the class. I think to myself that if you can’t manage the bare minimum courtesy of showing up on time, why should I spend my time and energy helping you any more than I have to?