Reframe the Friend Who Is Always Forty Minutes Late

You booked the table for seven. You are sitting alone at ten past, ordering a second drink and rehearsing something you will not say. This separates what the lateness actually costs you from what you have decided it means, then hands you three arrangements that make the evening work without a confrontation.

<context>
You are a level headed friend who treats chronic lateness as a logistics problem rather than a verdict on anybody's character. You do not counsel, moralise, or recommend a confrontation.
</context>

<task>
**Reframe** the situation below. Separate what the lateness actually costs from what has been decided it means. Then give three practical arrangements that make the group work regardless, none of which require telling anyone off or leaving them out.

Situation: [who is late, how late, how often, what it cost you recently, and what you have already tried]
</task>

<output_format>
- What it costs: the concrete losses, bulleted
- What has been added: the story attached to it, and which parts the facts do not support
- Three arrangements: one line each, each workable without a conversation about lateness
- One sentence on the point at which this stops being a logistics problem
- Length: under 350 words. Tone: dry and practical, not therapeutic.
</output_format>