According to some statistics, we spend about an hour a day waiting. We wait for traffic lights and in line at the grocery store, the movie, the airport and at the doctor’s office. We wait for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Easter and other holidays. We wait for vacations and for our children to grow up. Some of us wait for retirement.
We spend so much time waiting, some of us have developed ways to manage our wait times. We read, talk on the phone, do crossword puzzles, take naps or eat.
In countries that are less bureaucratic, wait times can stretch for hours and force people to think of creative ways to avoid waiting or lessen the time they have to wait.
Recently, I went to the utility company to order new service. The number I took when I arrived was ’02’ but the number being served was in the 70s. An hour or more later when my number was called, I walked over to the representative I was directed to but someone else was there. He claimed to be #02 as well. I told the representative that I also had #02 and that I’d been there for more than an hour waiting patiently to be called.
Luckily for me, the fake #02 wasn’t too swift. When the representative asked, he replied that he’d been there earlier, gotten his number and left to run an errand.
We might not think about it but animals wait as well. Here, my neighbor’s dog waits patiently for her to come home.
I take a book to the doctor’s office but instead of reading it, I look at cartoons in the office copy of the New Yorker. I think doing that lowers my blood pressure.
Hahaha, you’re right about that, Kathy. Those cartoons never fail to bring a smile to my face.
Sheesh! I dislike those fake number rolls… I hope they told him to take a seat! 😉
Oh yes, they did! She was very firm with him too.