The next time you stay up late because you’re out on the town, watching a movie or doing anything that simply forces you beyond your will to be late for work in the morning, consider how your actions affect the off-going shift. Think about it: Somebody has to stay late to do your job.
The person you were supposed to relieve may have had plans to take his or her kids to school or fishing, to take the wife out for breakfast or whatever. But don’t sweat it. You’ll only be 5 or 10 minutes late. It’s unlikely that the excrement will hit the fan and cause the person you were supposed to relieve to get held over for any considerable amount of time, simply because you just couldn’t get to work on time. Think again.
Sure, there are a few legitimate reasons for being late: an illness in the family, your car breaks down — that sort of thing. But the rest of your excuses for being late are pure BS, and you know it.
When you’re late for a BS reason, you’re telling the people you work with, "I have no respect for you. I don’t care what you had planned to do today. What kept me from getting to work on time was much, much, much more important than anything you could possibly need to do today."
When you’re late, the person you were supposed to relieve, and everyone at the station where you were supposed to be, probably takes bets or at least kicks around ideas about what BS excuse you’ll come up with this time. My most recent favorite was the guy who said he couldn’t get to work because of the "big fire," which we cleared about an hour before he was due at work.
Tardiness is going to cost you down the road. I promise. A promotion, choice crew assignment or special project that you know you’d be perfect for will come up, and sure enough, you’ll get passed over for it. You’ll be pissed and mope around the station. "Man, those SOBs picked Charlie for the job. Can you believe that?" you'll think. And most of us will sympathize with you in the hopes you’ll shut up. But not me.
I know why you got passed over and deep down inside, you know why, too. If you could just manage to get to work on time a measly 10 days a month, you’d have that job. The bottom line: If your employer can’t count on you to do something as simple as show up on time, how in the world can they possibly expect you to do anything else?
