I have come to the conclusion that waiting, in it’s purest of forms, is evil.
Examples include but are not limited to:
– Anything to do with people standing lines, Fast Food, Movies, Banks, Post Offices, Traffic Jams, Grocery Stores
– Anything to do with being on hold
– Anything to do with people, airplanes or luggage being late
– Anything to do with bad cell phone signals (I know this doesnt technically fall under “waiting” per se, but basically the same thing in terms of a fantastic waste of time and great frustration builder.
When we are forced to wait….it feels as an attempt to deprive us of freedom. Of all the other things we could be doing, we are forced to stand in line, like a bunch of cattle, for whatever, stamps, chalupas, or even to deposit our own money into our own bank accounts for cryin out loud! I mean its just rude! To me a business that makes you wait is essentially saying “Not only are we going to take your money, we are also going to take your time because we dont want to work too fast.”
Technically, we never “forced” to wait unless we are in prison, so in order to combat the evils of waiting I have made some choices and developed some tactics-
1. If the line is too long- I immediately leave. Oh well chalupa, good bye Harry Potter 4…for now…its not worth it!
2. If the line is 2-3 people long….I will try to find something productive to do with my time…thank goodness for cell phones with internet browsers that can surf the web! Too bad tmy browser makes me wait and I am ready to do business by the time I connect.
3. If people are late and havent called me to let me know….I um….yeah…I leave….especially if I was the one giving them the ride. This is actually in all seriousness- Im not kidding. If you wait once, they will make you wait every time. If you leave, they will never be late again.
4. Ok….more confession time…..yeah….remember that time you called me, we had a bad signal and suddenly we were disconnected? Uh huh…I hung up on you…..I mean why go through the whole “Hello…..hello? Are you there? Can you hear me? Hey are you there?” and then when we finally connect we have to determine at what point the conversation went silent. Yeah….I just hang up on people at the first sight of it, its nothing personal, just efficient- the call is going to be dropped in 30 seconds anyway….usually we call each other back and the signal is fine.
The reason we are willing to wait is because the business has something that we believe we MUST have NOW but really…do we really need it that bad? Another entry might cover the time value of time (one minute now is worth more than one minute later, exactly like the time value of money.)
I am just curious to wonder, is there any way to rid the world of waiting once and for all?
Waiting? It’s just part of it, but as you have mentioned there are ways to reduce when and how long one waits. This entry made me laugh, thanks.
how about using some positive affirmations!! haha Sounds like someone’s got a case of the Mondays 😉 The best is waiting at a doctor’s office when no one is even at the front desk, and you walk back to find them all eating lunch, 30 minutes after your scheduled appointment time. grrr.
Its a tough job, this whole maven thing……