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rem1100

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Today I was faced with a quandry. I am a highschool student, and have a bad habit of arriving to school a few minutes late almost everyday. I miss home room and sometimes a few minutes of gym class, so in reality this not a big deal, as I am not losing any educational value. However the school sees this differently (Attendance is related to their funding, and their stated reason is "In the real world this is not OK").

Today this caught up with me and I was caught up with me. I was summoned to the vice principals office and handed a long list of my tardies to give to the VP. He looked it over and made some worriesome remarks. Then he said something to the effect of "Your a good student, and not a problem student, and so I will cut you a break". He gave me much fewer detentions than protocol suggests. And then he said "You drive to school, so just come a few minutes earlier, and it won't be a problem. There isn't anything else (out of the ordinary) making you late is there?" I told him no, although this was not entirely truthful, I have a health problem currently that contributes significantly to my tardyness, so I had two options.

-Tell him of the health problem, This would have almost certainly have reduced my number of or gotten rid of my detentions. However I regard this as private and also I didn't wan't to play the victim. I believe this whole situation to be an injustice anyway.

-Don't tell him, and take the extra detention.

What should I have done :)

Edited by rem1100
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Yes, I agree with WC.

Your school is also correct. It's not okay to show up late for work, that sort of practice is the sort of thing that will prevent you from getting a fair shake by a boss when you are starting a job.

I've actually been faced with the dilemma of deciding which of two employees gets their contract renewed. The person who was habitually late and called in sick with startling regularity (though I knew there to be no underlying medical condition) did not have a job at the end of the day. In spite of the fact that her work was slightly better than the other persons... I could rely on one, I could not on the other.

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If you are interested going to college, then a good standing with your school is important. Attendance is part of that. If you're not interested in college right out of high school, then get a job and a GED and quit wasting your time.

I had a boatload of abscences and tardies to make up by the end of my senior year (somewhere around 130 hours). I didn't make them up, so they withheld me from the graduation ceremony (I still graduated, just didn't walk and shake hands and all that jazz). I assume their graduation rate was about as important to them as their attendance funding. I don't know how strict your school is, so don't assume your administrators will act the same way.

Curiously enough, my parents got a call last week from my High School. The School wanted them to know that I skipped 6th period. I'd be interested to know what series of mistakes lead to the school trying to get in touch with the parents of a member of the class of '02. At least I could laugh about it.

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We recently had a situation where I work that was similar to what Zip described. We just let a fellow go who was frequently late. This may seem insignificant to you now, but when an employer is paying for your time, he wants to be able to depend on you. I work in a professional firm, so I'm not talking about some guy flipping burgers who we had to fire.

I think you'll also discover there are all sorts of things in life that you won't necessarily find agreeable. You always have choices. You can choose to continue to be late, but you'll have to suffer the consequences of your decision.

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It's 6.30 in the morn' here right now; I'm getting ready for school.

This never would have happened in highschool; I was notoriously absent, and barely made it through due to absence and tardy. But, I valued my future enough to straighten up, so that in the years to come, I would get up and go to class because I really want to. That's the case now; I can't wait to get to class on time and play in a baroque quintet.

Point is, had I not cleaned up my act, I would not be in the position to enjoy an education. So: put in your time at highschool. I know it sucks; we've all been there; we've all gotten through it.

Good luck, get to class on time, learn something, and shake the pillars of heaven.

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There is no medical reason to be minutes late, especially if you drive yourself. One of the cardinal virtues of a rational man is honesty, so you need to start becoming such a man by recognizing that simple fact, and stop pretending that you couln't do exactly as you were told: leave from home a few minutes early.

The reason why the school and your parents never asked for your imput when making up some of these rules you have to live by (such as whether it's fair to punish someone for being late all the time) is because you are not qualified to give that input yet. Don't worry, this is perfectly natural, most people reach the age where they can be trusted to be fully in charge of their life when they're about 18.

Until then, your parents and school are responsible for you (since you don't have the ability to live on your own) so it is perfectly reasonable, and 100% right for adults to make up rules you have to follow. Obviously your parents and your school trust you enough to give you a lot of room for decisions of your own (you have a car, the principle talked to you instead of calling your parents), so they seem like reasonable people. The best thing for you to do is follow the few rules these reasonable people asked you to follow, until you're 18. Then you can decide whether being on time for something is important or not, and if you still feel that it's fine to be late all the time, you can live with the consequences.--they won't be fun.

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I am a highschool student, and have a bad habit of arriving to school a few minutes late almost everyday.
That's a good sign: that you recognise that it's a bad habit, which you must change.
I miss home room and sometimes a few minutes of gym class, so in reality this not a big deal, as I am not losing any educational value.
That is a bad sign, because it means you are evading reality. Are you using the compulsory nature of schooling as a rationalization for your behavior. Suppose you wanted to attend school, and the school required you to appear at a certain time to do things that you don't want to do. Maybe you could go shopping for a school that allowed you to appear whenever you felt like it, just like you might be able to shop for a job where you can show up whenever you feel like it, but if you don't succeed in your search, why should the school allow you to continue if you aren't willing to abide by the conditions that they set? It is not physically impossible for you to do what they require -- there is no medical condition whose effect is forcing a person to be late.

So you should accept your punishment, and stop evading reality: strive to stop getting detentions.

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I've always been punctual. It's a good habit to acquire, too, as it comes in handy in many kinds of situations.

As for school, regardless of whether or not you're missing something important, fact is the teachers get there on time to do their work, which involves you. It's just plain rude not to show up on time. You're implying their time is not valuable and they should wait for you. This goes for all kinds of meetings where a time is agreed upon. Work meetings, business meetings, particualrly customer meetings. Few things will infuriate a customer more than making him wait.

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I've always been punctual. It's a good habit to acquire, too, as it comes in handy in many kinds of situations.

As for school, regardless of whether or not you're missing something important, fact is the teachers get there on time to do their work, which involves you. It's just plain rude not to show up on time. You're implying their time is not valuable and they should wait for you. This goes for all kinds of meetings where a time is agreed upon. Work meetings, business meetings, particualrly customer meetings. Few things will infuriate a customer more than making him wait.

I've always been more than punctual. I would rather be 20 minutes early than 5 seconds late. Just the thought of being late bothers me. I even have this compulsion for something that is self imposed like if I were to say "I'd like to leave at 08:00 to go to the beach on Saturday." I will leave by 08:00, actually I'll probably leave early! :D

It drives my wife absolutely nuts!

She has made me late on the other hand... Which drives me nuts!

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I would rather be 20 minutes early than 5 seconds late.
There is a basic social reason why this is the law in Norway. The host makes a toast, which requires the guests to be there, and then the drinking can begin. It's really rude to delay the start of the drinking. You probably have other motives, but you'd be a good person to invite to a party in Norway.
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I've always been more than punctual. I would rather be 20 minutes early than 5 seconds late.

Vince Lombardi is claimed to have said that if you show up exactly on time you're already late. That's how I see it, too.

In my line of work it's necessary to arrive on time to certain meetings. By law if you're even a minute late you're not allowed in and you may loose some very large sales. For such things I always try to arrive at least one hour early. Partly is to insure the time to take things easy, mostly is to allow for unexpected trafic or other delays. As I said, it's a habit that's useful to acquire.

She has made me late on the other hand... Which drives me nuts!

Punctual people are like everyone else: we expect others to be like us. So, yes, we are very much bothered by those who cannot make it on time.

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I always set my watch five minutes into the future. :lol:

A while back when I missed a class because they were in a diverent room (and I actually took the class they had in the room on my schedule), when I found them latter they expressed that they were genuinely worried.

Edited by FrolicsomeQuipster
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