It's Good to be Early, But Not Too Early

There's an old saying that the early bird catches the worm. But what about the early human? What does the early human catch?

The early human catches flak.

If you don’t believe me, just look at what happened to the man who recently interviewed to be an office administrator at a gutter-cleaning company in Atlanta. According to a post on LinkedIn, this candidate arrived 25 minutes early for his interview, which was a “major factor” in why the company’s owner, Matthew Prewett, didn’t hire him.

"Showing up early is good,” Prewett wrote. “Showing up extremely early can suggest someone isn't good with time or expects to be accommodated. It also made me feel rushed.”

Prewett believes that the proper interview etiquette is to arrive five to 15 minutes early for an interview, but anything earlier requires that you wait outside somewhere, not enter the office and disturb the schedule of the interviewer.

Indeed, 10 to 15 minutes early seems to be a common recommendation. You might get away with 16 minutes, but at 17 minutes, you might as well not bother with the interview. Just say to the interviewer, “Sorry, I’m too early. I messed up. I tried to time my arrival perfectly, but the stupid traffic did not delay me enough.”

I wonder if the job candidate who was too early has seen Prewett’s post. If so, perhaps he’s looking back on his life, thinking about all the times he was early, but didn’t get punished for it. Perhaps he was born a few weeks early, started school one year early and graduated from college two years early. Perhaps he showed up at his wedding one hour early, but the bride married him anyway. She didn’t complain that he came too early, not even the next morning.

Early Bird Photo by Brian Kelly on Unsplash

Being too early is considered good practice in many situations in life. Airlines expect you to be three hours early for an international flight. This is for security reasons, of course. Studies show that people who have spent three hours standing and waiting in an airport do not have enough energy to hijack a plane. No, the real reason airlines want you to be early is to make sure you have enough time to buy expensive food at the airport.

Being too early is considered a sign of true fandom. Anybody can show up three hours early for a Taylor Swift concert, but only a true fan can show up three days early. The same is true for sporting events. If the football game begins at 7 p.m., some fans are already outside the stadium at 7 a.m. , preparing for the game by filling up on beer and hot dogs.

Tom Coughlin, former head coach of the New York Giants, was renowned for demanding that his players be five minutes early for meetings. He believed that “if you’re not five minutes early, you’re late.” In other words, you had to be early to be on time. If you were 25 minutes early, he would give you a pat on the back, not make you do some gutter cleaning.

But what about being early for a dinner invitation? It depends on the venue. If it’s at a restaurant, being early may ensure that you get a good table. But if you’ve been invited to my house, please try not to be early. It’s better to show up 25 minutes late than 25 minutes early. Being fashionably late is preferable to being awkwardly early.

If you show up early, you might be asked to help with some last-minute cleaning or cooking. Yes, unlike at the Atlanta company, the early human gets put to work.