Time is of the essence guys!

It never ceases to amaze me how other agents don't understand the concept of "time is of the essence". Not only for contract performance deadlines, but for responding to offers too. I often wonder if it lack of understanding or just pure lack of professionalism. On Thursday of last week I submitted an offer on behalf of my first time homebuyer with acceptance no later than 8:00 the next day, Friday. On Friday, I called the agent to find out what the status of the offer was. The listing agent indicated that he sent it to the seller and she was signing it. 8:00p.m. Friday comes and there is no return of the contract. I e-mail the agent and call the agent with no response. Being optimistic that there were communication challenges, I contact the agent to find out the status of the offer, no response. No by this time, my buyer has the option of withdrawing his offer. But he really wanted this property so he hung in. After no communication from the agent for three days, on Sunday at 9:52 p.m. I receive an e-mail from the agent with a notification there were multiple offers on the property with a request to complete a form acknowledging such and indicating whether my buyer would like to modify his offer. I called the agent first thing on Monday morning and asked when this offer came in since he said the seller was signing the contract on Friday. He said that the second offer came in on Friday. Hmmmm...I think so why did he wait until late Sunday evening to communicate this? The unacceptable answer came back that he had to prepare the form he sent. It took three days to prepare a form? Nonsense. To protect my buyer, because he still wanted the property (he smartly did not revise his offer though) I completed the form as requested. On Tuesday I called the agent to find out what the status of the offer was and he tells me that the other buyer did not send in the form so the seller signed our offer. I asked when I could expect the executed contract. He said he would get it to me. I received it Wednesday afternoon. As I looked at the executed contract, I noticed that the seller had actually signed the offer on Thursday! Now I question whether there really was a multiple offer situation. The poor communication and faciliatation of this transaction impacts the professional image of our industry. That seller could have been put at risk because of her agent's actions.  I will determine what to do after this transaction closes, but I know I will have to be reiterating that "time is of the essence with this particular agent. Boy is it frustrating!  Julia