I know lots of people are nuts for it, and any advice on job-searching always begins with "be early for the interview," but personally, I've never seen the point. After all, what's the best thing that's going to happen if I'm early? I'll get to wait in a non-descript room with outdated magazines, other people will know that I'm early and hopefully all events/appointments will begin on time?
Eh, I say. Events/appointments will also begin on time if I'm ON TIME, so what does this early nonsense really accomplish? (I never said I was a fan of being late as opposed to being early. For once, I'm opting for the non-excess, middle road of simple punctuality.) And if I'm early and my appointment begins early, I got nothing from this exchange that wouldn't also happen if I was on time.
Also, it seems that being early always involves waiting, and I hate waiting. I don't want to leave my house 15 minutes early to read a Birmingham Parent from 2006 about summer camp tips for teens when I could stay at my house for those 15 minutes and throw a load of clothes in the wash or catch the end of Cheaters. If I'm going to be wasting time anywhere, I want it to be at home and not in a corporate lobby.
People say, "What if there's traffic? What if you have trouble parking? Being early can prevent being late."
Again, I feel "eh" about this. Most of the time, there's not that much traffic. (I live in Birmingham, far, far from the dreaded 280.) Most of the time, I'll find a parking space. At worst, I'll be about five minutes behind. In truly dire circumstances, leaving the house 15 minutes early is just a drop in the bucket to a complete interstate back-up or shut-down highway anyway.
For the truly time-sensitive -- live TV, NASA -- I get being early. But, for the rest of us, who, let's be honest, can accomplish more with an e-mail that we can with an hour-long meeting but just want an excuse to get out from behind our computers for a little while and dig into the hours we all try to kill before going home to eat and sleep, does it really matter? Really?
I feel the same way about waking up early for no good reason. Other than Al Roker's antics, is there that much to be missed by getting out of bed at 7:45 instead of 6:45? If I don't have a flight to catch and I don't have a job, you won't find me roaming the neighborhood, coffee in hand, ready to greet the day. Some people brag about seeing the sunrise. I'd prefer to catch Conan's musical guest. It's simply a personal preference, like chocolate ice cream or the pink Starbursts.
Feel free to tell me about all that I'm missing out on or what I don't see about the joys of being early. You can even tell me how rude I'm being. Just don't give me that Benjamin Franklin nonsense about early to bed and whatnot. I don't think it matters when you get your eight hours -- it's what you do with the other 16 that seems to count. And it's not like I said I spent the rest of my day in bed eating bonbons.
Although, that bonbon thing doesn't sound like a bad job if I could get it ...
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