In this age what makes one not call incase they are running late? The other lot that annoys me are people who simply drop by the office unannounced my standard reply - I am in a meeting!

@mukiha, even the devil deserves a second chance... its good you took the initiative. What has become alarming is the quality of CV/ application letters one gets from some of our graduates... spelling mistakes, phrases... i just wonder. On a light note a chap, lets call him Maajabu once turned up in dusty jeans, dishevelled and just looking as if a tractor had run over him... well he just apologised for not turning up at 9am, giving his reasons, and finally explaining his attire.... When the candidate who was offered the job declined, the process was outsourced and guess who led the Shortlist... Maajabu... He is still with us today but the name stuck!

Let me play devil's advocate.

Not all people are the same when it comes to their concept of time. People who are artistic or the creative type work in a state of suspended time. They get involved in a project and time ceases to exist. They can go on for hours on end when they have it going and then sleep or just forget appointments when not doing their thing. If you are recruiting people for creative jobs for example designers, musicians, paint or sculpture artists you have to work within their times. The very good ones don't know how to keep time.

Let me tell you of people you may have come across; computer programmers. If you had an interview for computer programmers and gave them an appointment for 10am you will not be wrong if you send away all those who show up on time and even up to an hour late. The very good ones will show up around 11.30 if they show up at all. I have several good friends, extremely brilliant guys who are able to see things that nobody sees and come up with brilliant out of this world solutions. These guys don't know what time is. If you want to see them you ask where they are and you go to them, you never tell them to meet you at a specific place at a certain time because you will wait for ever. On the flip side is, if they are working on something they are interested in they can work and sleep in the office at ungodly hours. Some work best at night and sleep during the day. Some work whole weekends and then just decide to take Wednesday or Tuesday off.

For me, I am time conscious, but I am also very aware that public transport is a bitch, so I give half hour lateness allowance for any appointments I have.

I have to disagree there; And I am a Computer Programmer to boot! In this profession, you do quite a number of phone based interviews, at that precise time you have to be available to do the interview. Managers in this line of work use punctuality as one of the factors to determine whether you are a competent time manager, a key element for any sort of Software project. Time management is not about art; you will not cut it if you are a slouch.