I had to bounce two trombone players out of my jazz band section in the last month.  Both were good players, but not dependable.  One guy showed up 2 minutes (!!) before the downbeat at a concert and the other guy was also chronically late for rehearsals and gigs.  
Here’s the basic rule:  Be there a half hour before kick-off.  If you can’t be there at least 20 minutes before, let your damn section leader or band leader know you’re on the way so he doesn’t start freaking out.  
In the first case, I talked a good trombone player who was in the warm-up group into subbing for the 1st half.  When the kid strolled in a T-2, I told him to cool it until after intermission.  He played the 2nd half, but that’s it.  He’s now at the bottom of my call list.
Both guys are pretty young, but I’ve talked to them about this before.  They don’t seem to think it’s a big deal.  It is a big deal.  If they can’t behave like adults, they don’t get to play with the adults.
End of rant.

Our band has a drummer issue..we have been through two and now looking for a third. Getting tired of them wasting my time.

I've identified the problem for you.  

Musicians not being professional?  I don't believe it.

A professional is a tour manager who can corral a band into a van or bus and get them to the next gig on time.






If musicians are expected to individually transport themselves to a show, some of them will show up late.

There are bands who manage themselves well and travel together punctually, but they are rare.

Besides, being a musician is cool, and cool people don't do what they're supposed to do.






 
 
 
 
 

They do if they expect to be called again.
The chronically late guy in my OP was being paid $75 for playing.  He’s been late for other paying gigs.  
Here’s the thing:  Being late isn’t just unprofessional, it’s disrespectful to the rest of the band and the audience.  It’s rude.  It tells me he doesn’t really care about being there and doing a good job.  
If he was the only guy around who was capable of playing the part, I’d have to cut him lots of slack.  But he’s not irreplaceable.  The guy I’m replacing him with isn’t as good a player, but he’s dependable and he wants to learn.  
That counts for a lot.

You should have thrown a chair at him.  It worked on Whiplash...

My rule of thumb for gigs and whatnot: If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late.
Like you, one of the things that drives me absolutely insane is people showing up late to gigs or rehearsals, or, not coming to rehearsal and expecting to play the lead book on a gig.
In the last few months, I've been working some pretty crazy hours, usually getting off at 7 when I have gigs starting at 7 or 7:30. The first thing I would do is call/text my band leader and my section leader to give them a heads up or let them know I'm going to be a few minutes late.

 Wait, wait, wait....are we talking about drummers or musicians?

The guys I play with now tend to be on time but that hasn't always been the case.

The biggest issue i have with them though is that they think rehearsals are the place you go to learn the songs you should have been practicing at home so oftentimes long stretches of time are wasted while these guys figure out the changes.

I honestly don't get whats so hard about it..listen to the tune at home, play along with it, and you're done.

Try having your lead guitar player show up late, and:

1. Never has a pick.
2.  Wants a different pickup soldered into his Les Paul before the gig, or ...
3.  Arrives at the gig late and with no guitar at all - had to swap my HM Strat and Les Paul Studio back and forth with him all night depending upon what the next song was.


RIP Frank Dunshee ....

At a gig yesterday, the drummer showed up 6 minutes before the downbeat.  By the time he was set up and ready, we were 10 minutes late getting started.

Big surprise:  He was 19 years old.  Couldn’t understand why the whole band was pissed at him.  

A FEW BASIC DAMN RULES:  
When you’re gonna play with a band for the first time, show up early, introduce yourself to the band members, thank the leader for asking you to play, get to know your section members and ask if there’s any tricky stuff you need to know about.
Listen, listen, listen to the way the band plays and do it their way.
After the gig, thank the leader for having you.

Oh, forgot about the time we had a Friday night practice scheduled from 7-11.  I as well as everyone else show up on time..I actually had to bust ass to show up on time also.

Lead guitar player?  He ended up  showing up 2 hours late because he was stuck at work.   Worst part about it is he notified the rhythm player (self described band manager) about being late, rhythm player than pretended to not know anything about the guy being late to prevent people from bailing on the practice.

I was pretty pissed..I mean, I can understand them wanting to play and since we had the studio time reserved would have ended up paying anyway for canceling, but if i knew he had been late I would have taken my time in getting there and at least taken the time to eat a real dinner instead of some take out crap from wa-wa.

Fucking hippies.

we always dealt with singer issues.  Or rather singer "attitude" issues

lol

I became use to it