History Main / AlwaysLate

* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'': The conflict of "[[Recap/ThomasAndFriendsS1E11ThomasAndTheGuard Thomas and the Guard]]" is set off when Henry keeps showing up late in bringing Thomas' passengers to Elsbridge Station. Thomas asks Annie and Clarabel how he is expected to run his branch line properly because of this, accusing Henry of being lazy and not realizing how much the Fat Controller depends on him. When Henry does finally arrive, Thomas is in such a hurry to make up for lost time that he leaves Elsbridge Station before his guard can board Clarabel.

* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'': Yukari Tanizaki, despite being a teacher who despises laziness from her students, is [[SenseiChan so lazy and immature herself]] that she frequently shows up late to her own class. Usually it's because of her poor sleep schedule, preferring to doze off rather than get up on time, while other times it might be due to things like showing up to the wrong class or getting stuck in line for the newest UsefulNotes/PlayStation game. Eventually, her friend and coworker Nyamo starts driving her to school, allowing her to start showing up on time more often.

On the other side of the coin...[[WellThisIsNotThatTrope you have ''these'' characters]]. They appear late for just about every event, meeting, and party under the sun, whether it's due to being {{Lazy Bum}}s, having poor time management, [[NoSenseOfDirection not being the best at following directions]], or having something prevent them from getting to where they need to go. This can cause them to butt heads with characters who are more punctual in nature, as well as face consequences from teachers, bosses at work, and the like -- some dire in nature, like being fired or getting detention.

* In ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'', the nuns cite this fact about Maria as one of the many signs that she's too free-spirited for the strict order of convent life: "She's aways late for chapel/But her penitence is real/She's always late for everything/Except for every meal."

On the other side of the coin...[[WellThisIsNotThat you have ''these'' characters]]. They appear late for just about every event, meeting, and party under the sun, whether it's due to being {{Lazy Bum}}s, having poor time management, [[NoSenseOfDirection not being the best at following directions]], or having something prevent them from getting to where they need to go. This can cause them to butt heads with characters who are more punctual in nature, as well as face consequences from teachers, bosses at work, and the like -- some dire in nature, like being fired or getting detention.

On the other side of the coin...{{WellThisIsNotThat you have ''these'' characters}}. They appear late for just about every event, meeting, and party under the sun, whether it's due to being {{Lazy Bum}}s, having poor time management, [[NoSenseOfDirection not being the best at following directions]], or having something prevent them from getting to where they need to go. This can cause them to butt heads with characters who are more punctual in nature, as well as face consequences from teachers, bosses at work, and the like -- some dire in nature, like being fired or getting detention.

On the other side of the coin...you have ''these'' characters. They appear late for just about every event, meeting, and party under the sun, whether it's due to being {{Lazy Bum}}s, having poor time management, [[NoSenseOfDirection not being the best at following directions]], or having something prevent them from getting to where they need to go. This can cause them to butt heads with characters who are more punctual in nature, as well as face consequences from teachers, bosses at work, and the like -- some dire in nature, like being fired or getting detention.

* ''Anime/TokyoMewMewNew'': Ichigo is often seen running late, whether it's to school, to work, or it's to a date with Aoyama. In the case of the latter, he ends up waiting for hours in the rain but still manages to forgive Ichigo (in part because [[spoiler:he knows she's a MagicalGirl]]).

* ''Series/TheMarvelousMrs.Maisel'': Being late is a hallmark trait of main character Midge, usually as a result of her taking great pains to pick the right outfit for whatever occasion she happens to be running late to.

* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'': Yukari Tanizaki, despite being a teacher who despises laziness from her students, is [[SenseiChan so lazy and immature herself]] that she frequently shows up late to her own class. Usually it's because of her poor sleep schedule, preferring to doze off rather than get up on time, while other times it might be due to things like showing up to the wrong class or getting stuck in line for the newest UsefulNotes/[=PlayStation=] game. Eventually, her friend and coworker Nyamo starts driving her to school, allowing her to start showing up on time more often.

On one side of the coin, there are characters who are the very embodiments of punctuality. They are always on time, for everything, no matter what. Their time management skills are unrivaled. They may even do things or arrive to places earlier than normal or expected.

On the other side of the coin...you have ''these'' characters. They appear late for just about every event, meeting and party under the sun, whether it's due to being {{Lazy Bum}}s, having poor time management, [[NoSenseOfDirection not being the best at following directions]], or having something prevent them from getting to where they need to go. This can cause them to butt heads with characters who are more punctual in nature, as well as face consequences from teachers, bosses at work, and the like -- some dire in nature, like being fired or getting detention.

* ''Anime/TokyoMewMewNew'': Ichigo is often seen running late, whether it's to school, to work, or it's to a date with Aoyama. In the case of the latter, he ends up waiting for hours in the rain, but still manages to forgive Ichigo (in part because [[spoiler:he knows she's a MagicalGirl]]).

** He shows up late for his pizza delivery job (which his boss says is a constant issue), and gets fired when he's unable to fulfill the restaurant's 29-minute guarantee because of it.

* In Alexandra Marinina's ''Anastasia Kamenskaya'' series, Anastasia's PatientChildhoodLoveInterest and eventual husband, AbsentMindedProfessor Alexey Chistyakov, never arrives on time for any appointment. He always gets confused between similarly-named streets, districts and subway stations, and even if he definitely remembers the address (such as that of his wife's workplace, Moscow Criminal Investigation Department), he can never figure out how long it would take him to get there, forgetting to consider traffic jams and the waiting time at stations.

* The Kangaroo of "The Kangaroo Chronicles" by Creator/MarcUweKling is notoriously unpanctual when having appointments with Marc-Uwe, which is something that over the course of the first two books drives them to a lot of arguments.

* ''Literature/VanManderpootz'': Dixon Wells is chronically late, so much that his father almost has a heart attack after Dixon seemingly arrives at the office before him (in fact, Dixon simply hasn't left the office since the day before).

* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'': Jake Peralta's tendency to show up late for work puts him in conflict with [[TheCaptain Captain]] [[ByTheBookCop Holt]], on top of his goofy attitude and lack of maturity. While the fact that he is [[BunnyEarsLawyer such a good detective]] stops him from getting fired, Holt points out these tendencies could keep him from advancing in his career.

* ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'' episode "Fountain of Youth" makes a RunningGag out of the mighty warrior Banoo arriving at the wrong time for everything. At the start of the episode, he arrives late to the amulet-gifting ceremony, causing the MacGuffin amulet to be given to the shaman Naboo by mistake. At the end, he appears after the VillainOfTheWeek has already been defeated, and when the king tells him it's 4 o'clock, he exclaims "Oh shit! I need to pick up the kids!"
* ''Series/{{Outnumbered}}'': Amongst [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter her]] many, [[BornUnlucky many]] other [[TooDumbToLive issues]], Sue's long suffering friend [[TheChewToy Jane]] is constantly late and unreliable, thanks to her [[AwfulWeddedLife miserable marriage]] (ending in husband eventually leaving her and her getting a string of equally bad boyfriends), along with all her other poor luck wrecking her ability to balance and manage her life. Whilst sympathetic, her inability to ever be on time for commitments (including those involving her daughter [[CreepyChild Alexa]]) does still create more problems for Sue and Pete. At one point Sue attempts to work around the issue by telling Jane the time she needs her to arrive is half an hour earlier than it actually is, and Jane still doesn't arrive until nearly two hours later.

* Music/HavalinaRailCo: "That Bohemian Music" (Dave Maust's contribution to the "Space, Love and Bullfighting Suite") includes a monologue about life in a modern-day abby. Fernando is frequently late to morning prayers, because he holds prayer vigils by himself in the cloister very late at night. The narrator, who has a room overlooking the cloister, encourages the other monks to be more forgiving, without giving away Fernando's secret.

* ''VideoGame/WarioWare'': Mona, who has [[NewJobsAsThePlotDemands new jobs every game]], has the consistent trait of rarely making it there on time. Usually, she leaves late and goes to extreme measures to get places on time. In ''Gold'', she's shopping for a party instead of working, but spends so long at the clothing store that she's almost late to her own party.

-->But slowly, surely he had made his way, a stubborn, sluggish push upwards through the ranks based more on pure bloody-mindedness than any real skill or potential. He'd become a Captain in the Army, and found his place in the world at last.

-->But the army had continued on towards Nicaea, which was the personal city and playground of the Byzantium Prince Asemopoulos, and in Allan's mind, dreams of a last minute arrival that turned the tide of battle their way rang through his head. He'd been late all of his life, but he intended to see to it that he WOULD arrive on time, this time.

* ''WesternAnimation/GrizzlyTalesForGruesomeKids'': In "Tom Time", a boy named Tom is always late for everything like school and meal times. The reason why Tom is always late when he was a baby he accidentally sneezed his brain out into the sloth cage in the zoo. His mother mistaken a baby sloth for Tom's brain and puts it back in his head. One day a news report tells everybody that the world will explode and they have to go to a rocket ship by tomorrow with one catch, don't be late. Tom's parents had gotten themselves ready to evacuate but he overslept. He was forced to get ready while his parents whent to the rocket. It was too late when Tom arrived at the shuttle station and was stranded on Earth as it explodes.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheodoreTugboat'': In "Theodore in the Middle", George makes an official complaint to the Dispatcher that Emily is always late to the morning work meeting, bringing up that her lateness delays the meeting and causes delays for the visiting ships who needs the tugboats' help. This results in Emily getting a red mark in the Great Tugboat Book and feud between her and George that lasts for the whole episode.

* ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'': Haruhi has a rule for SOS Brigade meet-ups that whoever is the last to arrive for the day's activity is "late" and receives a penalty - usually having to treat the rest of the Brigade to lunch. Unfortunately for Kyon, he is ''always'' the last person to arrive for every activity. No matter how early he shows up (and he's sometimes arrived as much as 20-30 minutes early), everyone else in the Brigade is already there waiting for him. Koizumi believes that it's because Haruhi wants Kyon to be the late one and is unconsciously using her RealityWarper powers to make it happen, making this an invoked example.

* ''Literature/TheQueensBracelet'': It's mentioned that Sesame and Maddie often get into spats over Maddie's lateness.

* ''Manga/OnePunchMan'': ComicallyInvicibleHero Saitama is forever showing up late to one-shot the giant monsters that have been laying waste to the city, mostly as a DramaPreservingHandicap.

Compare PunctualityIsForPeasants, in which somebody is arrogantly late, to spite those who they consider beneath them. Polar opposite of the ScheduleFanatic as well as the CreatureOfHabit. Also contrast ClockKing, whose entire stock-in-trade is punctuality.