Dear Queenie,
I know some people who are late for everything all the time, usually half an hour or even more, but they never apologise for being late, in fact they get mad if I don’t sit around waiting for them and just go off on my own to do whatever it was we were going to do together.
Queenie, what’s a good answer for such people when that happens?—Tired of waiting
Dear Tired,
It depends on how polite (or rude) you want to be to someone who was rude enough to keep you waiting for so long.
You can tell them “You were (however long it was) late and I did not want to miss (whatever it was you were going to do). Or “You should not have been so late. I got tired of waiting for you/thought you were not coming.” Or “Sorry, after I waited (however long it was) I thought you were not coming.”
And, when you make plans with people who make it a habit to be late, either allow for their usual lateness, or tell them in advance that you will only wait a certain length of time for them and if they are later than that all plans are off, no excuses accepted.
