Man who hates lateness has genius incentive to get guests to arrive on time
A man on TikTok believes chronically late people can change—but not without some incentive.
A video posted by Kylie (@kyliekatich) has gone viral for revealing the way her husband ensures his guests arrive on time for his parties; he cordons off a section of their home as a VIP section for guests who aren’t late. In just three days, the clip has received more than 16.5 million views and over 3 million likes.
“My husband hates when people are late, so anytime he hosts, he gives VIP wristbands to people that show up on time and excludes late people from accessing a ‘VIP section’ of our house with better snacks and drinks,” Kylie captioned the video.
Many in the comments—mostly those who were admittedly good at being prompt—appreciated what they saw as a non-punitive approach to tardiness.
“I love this, because he’s not punishing the late people, he’s just rewarding the considerate ones,” @user.3590763 wrote.
“As a chronically on-time person, I’d love to be rewarded for the effort I put in,” @h0nkachonk posted.
“As someone who has a genuine fear of being late, I always show up 15 minutes early. No matter what it is, I’m there 15 minutes early,” @myahg2806 commented. “This would make me feel so special.”
Others, however, saw the method as unfair to people who struggle with tardiness for reasons of mental health or neurodivergence; they cited “time blindness”, a symptom of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as a major factor. However, not everyone was convinced.
“I have really bad time blindness, so this would just make me feel purposefully excluded and I’d stop showing up,” @17epiphany wrote.
“For everyone using ‘time blindness’ as an excuse…I have ADHD and pretty bad time blindness, I just set up a bunch of alarms and end up arriving half an hour early then just wait outside for the time,” @goth__siren posted.
What Is ‘Time Blindness’?
The Attention Deficit Disorder Association wrote about time blindness and its consequences in a blog post.
ADDA defined time blindness as “the inability to sense how much time has passed and estimate the time needed to get something done.” This can lead, for example, to chronic tardiness in an underestimation of the time it takes to get ready.
The association wrote that time blindness is unintentional and not meant to be inconsiderate or disrespectful—but is simply one way the ADHD brain operates differently from non-ADHD-affected ones.
As some noted in the comments on Kylie’s video, there are ways to manage time blindness and increase one’s capacity for understanding the amount of time that has passed. ADDA recommended to:
- Set alarms and reminders;
- Intentionally track time in different ways, like with music, timers or wall clocks;
- Use time management and productivity tools like the Pomodoro technique.
With effort and careful management, the association wrote, people with ADHD can regain control of their perceptions of time. Whether or not Kylie’s husband’s “VIP section” is incentive enough is still up for debate, though.
Newsweek reached out to @kyliekatich for comment via TikTok.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.