When I'm not accountable to anyone, I pay little attention to the time. When I'm meeting someone, the time matters. I don't want anyone wasting my time, so it's common courtesy at a minimum to respect other's time as well. Whenever you're going to meet someone, show up on time or have a damn good reason.

I attend a lot of business meetings. Often whoever is chairing or directing the meeting will announce a few minutes after the start time, "let's wait a few more minutes for a few others to show up." I started a few years back suggesting that we should begin immediately because everyone knew what time we were scheduled to begin, and that starting late unintentionally encourages people to arrive late if they know it will be delayed. Get lots of interesting, but positive feedback on that remark.

Arriving on time is not about the clock or that time matters. It's about respect for other people. Like I began this post, if I'm not meeting someone, I seldom look at my watch.

Sg