the Date that wasn't

So tonight I had a date. Or I was supposed to have a date. Great guy - short but talented and we all know talent trumps tallness. I worked all day until 10pm and we were going to meet in Union Square at 10:15. I was early (as always). Standing on a corner. No guy. No text. No call. and NO, I was most certainly not stood up. But at 10:25 I texted him and said 'you're late. im tired. im leaving.' And I did. See, here's the thing about lateness: it is ALWAYS a choice. Always. If Ed McMahon had called him up and said "guy, I have a million dollar check waiting for you in Union Square. There's a catch. If you aren't here by 10:15pm, you don't get the million dollars" do you think he would have been late? NO. He would have been 2 hours early.

And I'm not saying I'm worth a million dollars. I'm not. Probably. The point is, there are a lot of things that can go in that blank and still work. A number of things in this world are VERY much worth being on time for. What you are saying to me if you are late is that I am not one of those things. I am not worth being on time for. And if I am not worth being on time for, YOU are not worth waiting for. Doesn't that seem fair?

But the world does not agree. Somehow, you are seen as being a bitch if you don't wait for someone. Yeah, he drove into the city from NJ. I don't care. I worked a 10 hour shift. He got lost. I don't care. He should have been more responsible. If the million dollars was waiting, he wouldn't have gotten lost. OR he would have left enough time for getting lost (or stuck in traffic or whatever).

Additionally, in this era of technology, WHY on earth would you not call/text someone if you are going to be even 1 minute late? Seems easy enough.

Here's the other thing about TIME that some people do not understand. There is really no such thing as being on time. ON time exists only for 1 second. All the seconds before zero hour (let's say 10:15:00pm) are "early" and all the seconds after are "late." SO you should never strive to be ON TIME because it's nearly impossible to fit inside that one second window. That means your choices are EARLY or LATE.

Fuck the excuses. Traffic, trains, alarms not going off......if it was important enough, YOU WOULD BE ON TIME.

And I should be important enough.

Oh, and just to be clear: He called me at 10:50pm and said "I'm here. Where are you?" He totally expected me to wait on a NYC street corner for 35 minutes. WTF. NO!!!!!