can you be late for something?

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I don't like being late at all. It makes me really anxious, and I also hate that I'm imposing on someone by keeping them waiting.

Other people's lateness doesn't bother me that much if I'm expecting it, like if it's someone who is chronically late.

Being a little late is okay with me, especially if I know it won't/doesn't start on time (like my social group), or it doesn't matter if I'm late.
Being very late causes me to panic.
Being late when I'm going to be picked up also causes panic. I'm afraid I won't meet my ride.

It's one of those things that my "personal cognitive therapy" helps to ease. By nature it's almost unthinkable for me to be even a few seconds late, but I've acquired the habit of questioning my gut reaction...."hang on, what would actually happen if you were a little late? Can't you phone them or text them to say you've been delayed?" It really has helped, though I still prefer to be on time if at all possible, and as I'm poor at estimating journey times, I usually allow a little extra time so I end up embarrassingly early, and then I have to hang about like a spare part until everybody else arrives half an hour late.

I was like that at school, too. Although, being more than a few minutes early was also bad because I would have to stand in an extremely overcrowded, noisy corridor before being let into class, so I avoided that at all cost.

I am very like this. I prefer being half an hour too early to being 5 minutes too late.

I used to be late to school a lot. Not to work, though. I often am very late when I have to do things that involve a lot of planning, and have to run to catch my buses and trains, or take my bike because that's faster than taking the bus. Somehow doing all the preparation before leaving works better when I have to run all the way, because that means that everything takes just as long as calculated. When I have time to take pauses, actions suddenly occupy more time and I end up being late.
I hate being late.

Yeah, I'm like that too.

I always fear--no matter what happens to anyone else--the "book will be thrown at me" if I screw up

I always allow time to get lost. As a result I am rarely late and very often a tad early for appointments.

ruveyn

I absolutely hate being late, it freaks me out. I hate being early too, because it makes me feel awkward for some reason. It's hard because I always try to by exactly on time (I'll wait outside a classroom if a class begins at 1:30 and not go inside until exactly 1:30 haha).

My boyfriend (also AS) also hates being late, but he's terrible at managing time so he's always late regardless lol.

Not the late, late, show topic

I would panic as a child being late or the last one seated for class, because this person would be singled out for ridicule. It happened once, and I had a meltdown, which cuased more attention.

As an adult, I have never been late for work, but for some appointments I have been tardy, and then to opunish you they let you wait.

I posted about this about a year ago....Being late is terrifying for me!

Me and stress? Well...stress has other causes for me. I can actually come late, because I'd rather be late than stress out. My father always stresses out quite quickly, so I've sworn to myself quite early: "I will always and always try to stay calm, because it's not smart to stress out" (for as far as stress IS a choice and for me I can choose not to stress if I come too late, I take it(coming too late) seriously though)

I'm a mom with a lot of AS traits myself, and I guess my pathological fear of lateness might be one of them. I am typically 30 minutes early everywhere I go because I leave myself a large anti-lateness cushion. If I am going to be fewer than 5 minutes early, I begin to feel a little panicky. (I don't actually show up early to social events, though; I will circle the block until I'm exactly on time.) It bothers me when other people are late, but not to the extent that the possibility of BEING late does. However, my husband's chronic lateness really bothers me. I notice myself getting angrier and angrier the longer he dawdles. I keep meaning to lie to him about what time we're supposed to be places, but I usually forget, and I often find myself sitting there in the car with all the kids for half an hour, waiting for his slow behind to get out of the house, telling myself "It's not OK to strangle him. It's not OK to strangle him." My AS son also doesn't like being last to any place except bed!

Tell him that you and the kids will be driving away at time X, with or without him. After he misses a few events, or has to drive himself and arrive late to the derision of all involved, he'll straighten out. If you really want him to be with you, tell him that he has to be getting ready at full speed by time X or you'll call whoever you're supposed to be seeing and tell them that you won't be coming because he refuses to get ready. My husband is stubborn enough that he has dragged it out until he sees me dialing, but at that point always gets going at a run.

I don't panic about it, but I do tend to be either too early, or a little bit late. My mother was, and still is, chronically late to nearly everything. I think I tend to overcompensate. I spend a lot of time reading in my car because I'm too early. I'm not in the spectrum myself, just quirky. It's my kids that are, and they don't seem to mind being early or late, but if it's something that's really important to them they will stress about leaving on time to get there on time even when there is no apparent reason to.

I HATE to be late. I usually leave half an hour before I have to be somewhere to ensure that I will not be late. If I am even one minute behind I call friends to let them know I am running late. lol

I HATE when other people are late. Its soooo rude. My mother is a chronically late person and it has caused trouble in our relationship because I find it to be disrespectful of me. I belong to a small mom's club that meets at 1pm. Guess who is the only person who is there at 1? Yes, me. I've gotten to the point where I just always keep a book in my purse. I'm never going to "be late" to fit in but I don't have to be pissed about it either.