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I’m Late, I’m Late, for a very important date

Posted Saturday 27th March 2010by Editor

It seems that this weekend’s clock change could cause a bit of a stir across our fair islands as a new study released today reveals that we Brits are obsessed with being punctual.

Sixty two percent of Brits agree that being late is inexcusable with 83% stating that our obsession with punctuality is something that is uniquely British.

The new study of over 2000 Brits, commissioned by independent watch retailer WatchShop.com (www.watchshop.com) found that 69% of us claim never to be late, for anything, whilst less than one in ten of us admit to being late more than twice a week.

For 44% of Brits, being more than five minutes late is unacceptable and anything greater than 300 seconds late, leaves 67% of feeling downright stressed.

However when it comes to being early, 34% agree that we should arrive at least 25 minutes early with a further fourteen percent claiming that you can never be too early for an appointment.

According to the Watchshop.com study, it appears that the “white rabbit” condition affects women more than men. Seventy four per cent of women compared to 54% of men feel stressed about not being on time, and whilst almost half of women surveyed reveal that being more than five minutes late is unacceptable, fewer, 40%, of men feel the same way.

Perhaps this is because men believe that they are never late. The study reveals that 71% of men believe they are never late, compared with 68% of women.

However when asked which sex is more punctual, men and women disagree; of course. 46% of women say they are more punctual than men. Yet men are less certain, 37% of men say that their sex is better at timekeeping.

And what can you be late for? According to the Watchshop.com study, more women than men think it’s acceptable to be late for a date (10% women, 6% men) and more men than women think it’s acceptable to be late for family gathering (22% men, 19% women).

“It seems that men and women have some very different perceptions of time,” says Kishore Naib, Chief Timekeeper at Watchshop.com. “But what is very clear from our study is that whether male or female being punctual is perceived as being of absolute importance in the way we, as a nation, behave.”

He continues: “You could say that Lewis Carroll touched on the very heart of the British nature with his worrying, time obsessing White Rabbit character.”

Further findings from the study reveal that:

48% feel frustrated and 33% of Brits feel panicked by being late. Less than 1% of us feel no shame from tardiness.

The older you get, the more punctual you become. Eighty-two percent of people over 55 and 71% of 45-54 year olds say they are never late, compared with 52% of 16-24year olds and 52% of 25-34 year olds.

It seems to take women longer to…

Get ready / dressed (72% take more than 10 minutes / 50% of men)

Brush their teeth (62% women take three minutes or more / 58% men)

Have a bath (53% of women spend 30minutes or more in the bath / 37% of men)

Go shopping (58% of women take over an hour to shop / 45% of men).

It seems to take men longer to…

Go to the loo (53% men spend five minutes or more / 35% of women)

Make a cup of tea (65% of women can make tea in 3minutes / 53% of men)

Clean the car (62% of men take 20 minutes or longer to clean the car / 59% women).

“We may have set ideas of how long men spend on the loo or women spend getting ready but these stereotypes are born out by our research which did show a consistent difference in the time men and women spend on their daily routines,” concludes Watchshop.com’s Naib.