Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 12, 1993 TAG: 9301120256
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BRETT PAULY LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Long
THE LATE TRAIT
Picture it - thousands of people standing in front of the Capitol, millions glued to their television sets, all waiting patiently for Bill Clinton to arrive and be sworn in as president . . . and waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting. . . .Clinton seems prone to habitual tardiness, a trait he shares with thousands of Americans and one that can mean a deep-rooted problem. Or it can mean he just can't tell time. Or that he's a narcissist or overly authoritative. Or any number of other motives.
"It is possible for anybody to be late," said Roderic Gorney, professor of psychiatry at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital. "But there is a major difference between a person who has the occasional mishap of tardiness and the person who is habitually late and has a rash of excuses."
Whatever the case, experts have said that chronic latecomers typically intend to be unpunctual and come armed with excuses - often used to conceal another problem from others or from themselves.
Gorney said the behavior can have a range of conscious or unconscious sources. Sometimes it is the result of an obsessive-compulsive disorder, while most often it is a peculiar trait of otherwise ordinary behavior, he added.
"It is one manifestation that a person has learned to express by always being late," Gorney said.
For example, he said, an employee who arrives late to work may be unconsciously expressing resentment, anger, rebellion or a resistance to authority. Tardiness can be a way to punish the boss or other power figure.
An employee who is easily intimidated may be tardy to avoid confrontations with co-workers. One who fears temptation may be late as a way to lessen the risk of seeing a person they are attracted to.
Other reasons for chronic tardiness include fears of crowds, rejection, inferior work or inadequate appearance.
Lateness also can be a learned behavior. "Very commonly it's modeled by somebody who is an authority or is admired, like a parent or a boss," Gorney said.
But, most commonly, according to Los Angeles psychiatrist William Power, tardiness is based on a need for attention or recognition, even in a negative context.
"Think about going to a party. If you arrive on time, you see all the people who come late and get noticed," Power said. "Those who are late to work want to show that they are different and don't follow the regular set of rules.
"Unfortunately, it's self-defeating because they tend to alienate others by their behavior."
Since Election Day, Clinton has made Chief Justice William Rehnquist wait 45 minutes before a scheduled afternoon tea, required more than 1,000 guests to wait 1 1/2 hours for a gala dinner and made journalists cool their heels up to an hour for news conferences, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Two weeks ago, he was even late for his own vacation, forcing the rescheduling of a chartered flight and cancellation of dozens of hotel rooms for his entourage.
USC professor of human factors and psychology Chaytor Mason offers this analysis of the president-elect's recent behavior:
"He's been accused of being too nice and not wanting to get people mad at him. He may be a person who hates to leave somebody, hates to hurt people's feelings by leaving. It may take him a long time to say goodbye or complete an interview. And, subsequently, he makes the next person wait. It's a common trait among folks who are compulsively late."
While many can't help being late, others are tardy on purpose.
"People who tend to be very self-absorbed, or narcissistic, tend to ignore other people's needs," Power said. "It's a selfish inattention to time and other people's respect for time."
In business, he said, being late can be a power ploy - a way to control others.
On the other hand, being compulsively early may be indicative of similar problems, Gorney said.
Individuals may meet a need for power and dominance by being early to work, assessing the competition and reprimanding others for being late or not abiding by established rules, he said.
Likewise, Power said, a person who fears being alone may show up early to an engagement to increase encounters with strangers. And those who need authority figures in their lives also may be perpetually early.
And then there are those who must always be exactly on time - down to the second, Mason said. He has heard of cases of people who arrive to work or appointments slightly early and then wait to make their appearance as the second hand strikes the scheduled engagement time.
"It's a less common problem, and it's often indicative of exhibitionism - a way to get attention by performance," he explained.
Experts have said that compulsive timing-related problems often get worse before they get better. For instance, what may start out as being late for work may progress into keeping the grocer, a neighbor and passing strangers waiting.
"These are the people who don't understand their lateness themselves or don't expect that others would accept their reasons for it," Mason said.
Extreme cases often are treated through psychiatric or psychological therapy, but there are no known support groups, according to the National Self-Help Clearinghouse in New York. There once was a national support group called Latecomers Anonymous, but it has since disbanded, clearinghouse officials said.