[paganel]

It depends on the culture. When I hear "I'll be late 5 minutes" that usually means 10 or 15, "10 minutes late" means an actual 20 or 30 minutes, while everything higher than 20 minutes could mean an actual hour. I live in Romania.

[Fuxy]

That's why i set myself a rule of whenever somebody says I will be there in 5 minutes I translate it to give me 5 minutes to show up if i don't forget about it.

And I hold everyone to it. If you don't show up in the amount of time you specify I'm gone.

I'm Romanian too I just hate wasting my time. My friends learned that really quickly.

[untog]

What if they get stuck on the train? There are other, non-lazy reasons for being late.

If I'd taken a 30 minute train ride to come and see you, been delayed by 10 minutes, then find you're gone when I arrive I don't think our friendship would last very long.

[icebraining]

That was valid before cellphones, nowadays I expect people to call/message if they're late. I suppose that reading Fuxy's post literally implies that no such exception is allowed, but I assume it's not meant to be an inviolable rule.

[untog]

Don't move anywhere with an underground subway system then...

[icebraining]

Our underground subway system here in Lisbon has cellphone coverage.

[gcr]

Lucky! NYC's subway has complete radio silence.

But people in NYC know that the late party might not have cell phone coverage. Conventions adapt, life goes on.

[rokhayakebe]

If you don't show up in the amount of time you specify I'm gone.

Respect.

[dmak]

"I'll be late 5 minutes" does not have the same set of expectations for "I am just five minutes away" which is what kanche said.

[dalore]

I'll be late 5 minutes means you're 10 minutes away (5 minutes to get there on time and 5 minutes of being late).