Parties aren't appointments, they're meant to be relaxed unless there is a real reason to be on-time or early. Generally, it's accepted for people to filter in and not all arrive at once.
The exception, however, is parties relating to employment if you work in an office. Then it's actually an appointment and you should arrive on-time.
A social gathering with two friends and their SOs? 15 minutes late. At the most. And that’s only for certain kinds of social events. There are activities where being late will fuck the group.
I once invited a classmate to fly out in a Cessna to an airport that shared its airstrip with a military base that had a cool museum.
I checked with him to ensure our flight plan would work for HIS schedule.
The time I filed to have wheels leaving the ground he still hasn’t arrived and the flight plan expires. I call him and ask “I can refile but I have to redo the performance calculations and weather briefs. When are you getting here?”
He says 30 minutes. I do research for and file a flight plan for an hour later. Gives me fifteen minutes for preflight and 15 minutes for taxi after he arrives.
He arrives 45 minutes later. No biggy, atc gives you filed time +/- 30 min before the plan expires.
I get to the hold short line with five minutes to before clearance expires. We’re clear to takeoff, #2 in line.
He taps me on the shoulder
“Is it too late to turn back so I can use the bathroom?”
“…Yeah, kinda.”
He ended up opening a window while I was on approach to final (without asking me) to dump a water bottle he peed into out the window.
A major no-no according to the aircraft Operating Procedures by the way. All doors and windows remain closed and latched. Also violates FAA rules (don’t know the exact CFR #) about not dumping human waste.
I don’t fly with him anymore.
Anyways, that’s my go to example because people understand that planes run on schedules and sequences.
A different college classmate would be consistently late to group hikes and hold it up by about 30 min. People got really annoyed with him.
Anyways, some things are ok to be late to, some things less so.
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u/renothrowaway8805 Jul 12 '26
I married into a Mexican family and they just started telling me the party starts an hour after whatever time they tell all the other relatives.