I don’t count these as symmetrical for a) the reasons that elizabeth mentions, and b) differences in anticipation—even in a culture which embraces unreliability, “time from now(early) until appointed time” is known, where “time from now(late) until other person actually arrives” is not.
I would consider waiting for a duration the length of which is known from the start to be less annoying than waiting for the same duration but but not knowing that length. If I know how long I will be waiting, I can choose how to engage my attention in ways that aren’t feasible if I don’t; I can commit to focusing on a book or podcast for a certain amount of time without worrying if it’s too short to become engaged, I can do a task on my phone which I want to do in one sitting and which I anticipate will take an amount of time less than my expected wait time, I can wander about the area and look at interesting nearby things.
Further, when you have a meeting involving more than two people, (1) when you’re early, only you have time wasted as a result, whereas (2) when you’re late, everyone else has time wasted as a result. This favours norms against unexpected lateness for the many-people case, and it’s simplest for them to carry over to the two-people case.
I don’t count these as symmetrical for a) the reasons that elizabeth mentions, and b) differences in anticipation—even in a culture which embraces unreliability, “time from now(early) until appointed time” is known, where “time from now(late) until other person actually arrives” is not.
I would consider waiting for a duration the length of which is known from the start to be less annoying than waiting for the same duration but but not knowing that length. If I know how long I will be waiting, I can choose how to engage my attention in ways that aren’t feasible if I don’t; I can commit to focusing on a book or podcast for a certain amount of time without worrying if it’s too short to become engaged, I can do a task on my phone which I want to do in one sitting and which I anticipate will take an amount of time less than my expected wait time, I can wander about the area and look at interesting nearby things.
Further, when you have a meeting involving more than two people, (1) when you’re early, only you have time wasted as a result, whereas (2) when you’re late, everyone else has time wasted as a result. This favours norms against unexpected lateness for the many-people case, and it’s simplest for them to carry over to the two-people case.