Everyone has that one friend who operates on their own, personal time zone. You learn to lie about start times, you bring a book, you accept that waiting is simply the price of admission for their friendship.
But there are some events, some once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, where that price is just too high. For one woman, that line in the sand was drawn by a ticket to Hamilton, and she was not going to miss her shot.
More info: Reddit
A chronically late friend can test the limits of even the strongest patience
Image credits: dragonimages / Freepik (not the actual photo)
A woman’s friend scored coveted Hamilton tickets, but her notorious lateness posed a serious threat
Image credits: lookstudio / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Instead of getting ready, the friend was casually painting her nails and adding new errands to the list
Image credits: yanalya / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Fed up and fearing she would miss the show, the narrator grabbed her ticket from the fridge and left
Image credits: Wavebreak Media / Freepik (not the actual photo)
She texted her friend that she had left, but even this message went unread in between all the tardiness
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The friend arrived over an hour late, missing the entire first act, and was furious at being ‘abandoned’
A woman was “over the moon” when her notoriously, chronically late friend, “Lisa,” scored tickets to the sold-out production of Hamilton. Knowing her friend’s complete disregard for the concept of time, she smartly arrived at Lisa’s house an hour before their absolute latest departure time, only to find her napping on the couch.
Lisa slowly made and ate a meal while scrolling on her phone, then disappeared into her room. The OP, her anxiety mounting, went to check on her, only to find her casually painting her nails. Lisa’s justification was a one-two punch of infuriating logic: “plays NEVER start on time,” and also, she needed to stop for gas and drop something off at her mom’s.
Faced with the certainty that she was about to miss the show of a lifetime, the narrator spotted the tickets on the fridge, made a split-second decision, and grabbed hers. She texted Lisa that she was leaving (a text that went unread) and made it to the theater with 20 minutes to spare, enjoying a glorious, Lisa-free first act.
Lisa finally arrived just before the second half began, over an hour late, and was furious at being “left.” She argued that since they were “her tickets,” the narrator should have waited, a complaint that fell on deaf ears. The narrator, having enjoyed the first act and seeing her friend had missed it entirely due to her own actions, was left wondering if her desperate move to save the evening had made her a jerk.
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Lisa’s chronic tardiness is a pattern that, according to psychological resources, is often rooted in more than just poor time management. The psychology behind chronic lateness can involve an “optimism bias,” leading someone to consistently underestimate how long tasks will take.
This mindset, while not necessarily malicious, shows a fundamental lack of respect for other people’s time and the structure of a shared plan. The solution to this problem is a conscious shift in perspective, something Lisa was clearly unwilling to do. As explained in The Cut, a key strategy for being on time is to work backward from the arrival deadline, planning every step needed to get there.
Lisa did the exact opposite; instead of focusing on the 7 p.m. start time, she kept adding new, non-essential tasks like painting her nails and making extra stops, a clear sign that she was not prioritizing the event or her friend’s anxiety.
Ultimately, the narrator’s decision to leave was simply boundary setting. As recommended by experts in SELF magazine for dealing with a chronically late friend, when verbal reminders and pleas are ignored, the next step is to enforce a consequence. Leaving without Lisa was a direct and powerful way to communicate that her own time is valuable.
Would you have left Lisa behind or do you think the OP needed more patience? Share your thoughts in the comments section!
The internet overwhelmingly declared that the friend got what she deserved for her blatant disrespect
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