A woman I know is moving and wants to rent out her old apartment. As such, she has been working with different real estate agents to show the property. One day, an agent called to set up an appointment for his colleague to see the apartment the next day. He even sent an email confirmation, so she assumed that was everything was set.
The next day, though, the agent failed to arrive. Half an hour passed, and no word. This was inconvenient, as my friend had errands to run and had held off eating lunch until the agent came, because she didn’t want to be interrupted mid-meal. Finally she emailed the man’s colleague to check and see if the appointment was still on. The colleague apologized for the delay and said he would track down the agent. Another hour passed, and the agent finally called to say he was on his way. Rather than apologize for being late, he laughed and joked about his colleague getting stressed out about the time. Clearly, he thought it was amusing that he had wasted my friend’s time!
To make matters worse, someone from a different agency had called to book a showing for later that day, and then never showed up. They didn’t even bother to call to let my friend know that she needn’t wait around the house. That’s hardly the way to do business.
All of this shows just how important it is to keep your appointments. If something comes up and you just can’t make it or will be late, call the person you are meeting right away to let them know. That way you can reschedule or see if they mind waiting. Otherwise, you are wasting their time.