This time of year there are all those family parties and my wifes family had theirs this last Saturday, and as usual one family (always) shows up late for the meal no matter what time the meal is set for. This year we went ahead and started eating and they come in 15 mins later looking surprised.
Any members here have the same with your relatives, chime in.

Unless they called and were broken down on the side of the road, they are the ones who are being rude.

Go ahead and eat without them

Absolutely proceed on schedule. If you can't be on time, be glad we didn't lock the door, sit down, shut up.

15 minutes is rude, but that's nothing. In the early 90's we went to my SIL's house for Christmas Dinner which was an hour away. Supposed to eat at 1400, but BIL was on the tractor disking the field. Round and around he went as we politely tried to stay occupied while staring at the turkey my SIL refused to serve without her husband present. At 1700 I hugged my sister-in-law and said thanks for the conversation, sorry the meal was cold, but I had to get back and feed our dogs and me too. She was pretty stunned, then angry as I told Mrs. 'Hook she could ride home with me or with her parents if she wasn't ready to leave. I went home by myself, but she showed up with her folks 15 minutes behind me. My FIL decided he'd had enough of the rudeness from his son-in-law and decided to pull chocks right behind me. We never planned for or had another special holiday meal meal at their house again.

I refuse to tell people what time we’re eating. Instead, I give them an acceptable arrival time range. It bothers some people but fuck ‘em as they were planning to make me complicit in them being rude.

Two years ago, the outlaw side of the family’s bitchy, rude daughter showed up 3 hours late and proceeded to complain that nobody ate their entree (we had been done with dessert for an hour). Fortunately, I wasn’t hosting so her complaining wasn’t directed at me so my lip remained zipped.

EDIT: When I lived in Alaska, I used to host quarterly fish fries (fried like my Louisiana buddy's mama taught him and he taught me). To encourage early arrivals, I made exactly one batch of fried pickles and people raved about them. Towards the end of my stay in Alaska, several fish fry attendees were commenting that this was the only thing they were ever among the first to arrive at. The food enticement idea has stuck with me.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tatortodd,

This is absolutely a hot topic in my household.

I refuse to wait anymore for people who are habitually late even when we warn them to be on time.

This thanksgiving I had it out with everyone and told them that there would be no more waiting for habitual tardy parties.

Give that family a time one hour earlier so that they arrive on time?

Meal starts on time, fuck late comers, period.

They can scoop what's left over when they come and eat by themselves.

If you're on time, you're late.

^ This...

I guess it depends on the size of the party.

If it's 4-6 people, seems weird to start eating without all the guests. When it's a small group like this, I plan the food so that I finish the cooking when the guests arrive so that the food is hot and there's time to settle in and exchange pleasantries.

If it's more than that, food gets served on schedule and while it's still warm. Usually for a big group, my food gets heated serving trays so people can come and go as they please.

It's on you to be on time.

Early is on time, on time is late, late is unacceptable.

We set a time for people to come, about an hour, before we eat. And if you come late, you eat when you get here. If we invite people over, it's not like it's going to be a sit down with everybody at a single table. At best, it's going to be people sitting at the dinner table and the kitchen/breakfast table. Worst, we'll have card tables out and the family couch and living room chairs will be available. We'll usually have the food around the kitchen counter.

I have a SIL that's been late for everything...

I don't wait for them anymore period

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
We set a time for people to come, about an hour, before we eat. And if you come late, you eat when you get here. If we invite people over, it's not like it's going to be a sit down with everybody at a single table. At best, it's going to be people sitting at the dinner table and the kitchen/breakfast table. Worst, we'll have card tables out and the family couch and living room chairs will be available. We'll usually have the food around the kitchen counter.

This is EXACTLY the way we do it at our house. Arrive early, guests serve themselves, and if you are late, be glad there is something left to eat.

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:
Give that family a time one hour earlier so that they arrive on time?

No matter what time the meal is scheduled they always seem to be late with a lame excuse.