Ask Amy: Friend's tolerance is tested by tardiness
Dear Amy: I moved to a new city about a year ago.
I've made one really great friend here, but there's a hitch: our incongruous approaches to timeliness.
"Sam" has been, without fail, late to everything we've ever planned. His tardiness ranges from one to three hours. Sometimes, I wait an hour and politely ask, "What's your ETA?" and he replies with, "Sorry, I'm just going to do 15 things and I'll be on my way!"
Recently, he and I were studying at his place and I got hungry, so I said, "I'm going to go to the grocery store next door, I'll be back in five."
I would have been back in five, except he wanted to join me. First, he had to change his contact lenses and fix his hair, and then he started telling me this story about his mom that I didn't pay much attention to because I was annoyed.
About 10 more things and 25 minutes later, we finally left his place.
At the store, he spent about 30 minutes trying to decide on a snack to purchase. I'm a very structured person and need him to try and follow a schedule.
What makes everything worse is that he apologizes ALL the time -- and he is aware that his tardiness is a problem.
I've been told I can be abrasive, and I'd really like to avoid conflict since he's is one of my closest friends here, so I'm not sure how to move forward.
Advice?
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