Why people are always late for lunch: situation / analysis / learnings

Before I begin, I must say that I'm guilty of making the unfashionably late entrance from time to time.

Situation:
This is how it all begins. You arrive at a lunch spot on time and you're the only one there. . . You're asking yourself, "WTF, why am I the only one here?" "is this some kind of joke?" Then you habitually go on to fidget with your phone, hoping, just hoping that someone has sent you a random text message. Anyways, no one likes being the lone wolf, it sucks BADLY. Almost as bad as someone responding maybe, yes, I hope my sentiment resonates with YOU people out there.

Analysis:
Then it becomes a viscous cycle of tardiness. Next lunch meeting, you intentionally leave a few minutes later just to avoid the awkward "I'm the only one here at this 6 person table how do I make myself look busy" moment. Meeting times get later and later, 10 mins late.... 15 mins....30 mins wtf???

Learnings:
This is why I've made it a practice to leave for lunch only after one of your other lunch mates sign off or go away/idle on IM. Only then can you be certain that others will arrive when you do. I'm almost embarrassed to even point out what could be common knowledge on best practices for leaving to lunch. But it must be known to one and everyone, similar to how guys should NEVER use emoticons.

/end random rant of shamelessness