Three quarters of Brits have a friend who is ‘always’ late, and a fifth have to wait an hour or more beyond their agreed meeting time for their friend to turn up
Brits rack up over 16 hours a year twiddling their thumbs waiting for their late friends to show up at social gatherings. Despite two-thirds of us favouring summer as prime socialising season, it also means more time spent waiting around for friends to turn up.
Three quarters of Brits have a friend who is ‘always’ late – with a fifth having to wait an hour or more beyond their agreed meeting time for their friend to turn up, typically chasing them up after 19 minutes to get an estimated time of arrival by sending a simple ‘where are you?’ message.
Many kill the wait time thumbing through their mobiles, swiping through social feeds, brushing up on the latest news or scanning emails. Consequently, nearly half admit they’ve drained their phone battery while waiting for their friends to arrive.
To help, Vodafone, which commissioned the research, has unveiled gigantic ‘Wait for a Mate’ stations across the nation, so people have a comfy place to hole up and recharge their phones while they await their friends this summer.
Broadcaster Roman Kemp, testing the seat out in central London, said: “With my mates, I’m definitely the early bird.
“I find I can use the time to catch up on a bit of life admin – aka check the football scores.”
‘Where are you?’ is the most popular text by 35 percent of those sitting around waiting for their friend.
Meanwhile, 17 percent employ a breezier tone with “Can’t wait to see you!”, while another 16 percent opt for bluntness, sending a simple “hurry up”.
While waiting for their mate, two thirds seek out a comfy spot to sit and 10 percent hunt for a place to power up their mobile.
However, late friends aren’t always the culprits as 28 per cent admitted they intentionally arrive early – with 57 per cent doing so to ensure they locate the meeting point on time and one in 10 just too eager to catch up with mates.
One in 10 of those surveyed, via OnePoll, even seize the chance of being early to sort out their life admin, like settling bills or responding to emails.