Start of heading level 2: Punctuality in Conference Calls: A Plea for Mutual Respect End of heading.
To be honest, it’s just getting on my nerves: it has become an absolute matter of course that at the beginning of every conference call, there’s a five-minute wait to see if any more people deign to dial in.
I couldn’t help but think of a quote by Horst Lichter (from the German talk show Riverboat) that hits the nail on the head:
“You have irretrievably stolen 20 minutes from my finite life that I could not spend in a self-determined way. That really stuck with me for the rest of my life, so that no matter when, no matter where, I’m always early, because I can determine my own time, but I don’t want to steal other people’s.”