Waiting?

Well… 

“I sent an email but haven’t heard back.”

“I left a voice mail, no response yet.”

“I texted… crickets.” 

Sound familiar?  If we’re on the waiting end, what do we do?  Besides getting really, really frustrated that is.

On the one hand, we don’t know what’s going on with the person we’re trying to contact.  I have a neighbor who’s on a 4-month, global cruise.  Even with on-board Internet, we wouldn’t expect a quick response during the middle of a day (or middle of the night) at sea, would we? 

Of course, not everyone we’re waiting to hear back from is on a global cruise.  Maybe they’re just sitting at their desk.  Maybe they simply forgot.  Maybe they’re overwhelmed – common perhaps in today’s days of front-line worker layoffs?  Maybe companies are forcing us to deal with the “machines” to get customer service? 

But when we’re on the waiting side, the reason doesn’t matter does it?  We don’t like to be kept waiting.  I know I don’t, but maybe it’s just me.  Can you share a situation where you prefer to be kept waiting?  Waiting in person doesn’t increase our patience either: 

The Queue Principal 

The longer you wait in line, the greater the likelihood that you are in the wrong line. 

Murphy 

When our awaited follow up finally follows through, we often get the proverbial, “Sorry, I’ve been busy.”  How do we react to that?  “Oh, that’s explains it.  My bad for being so impatient.  No worries, I’m not in a rush.”  Those are the responses we say… NEVER! 

Then there is the matter of balancing a quick response with an accurate response: 

Nobody is in a rush for the wrong answer. 

Robert D. Cohen 

What do you think?  Are we more impatient these days?  With all of the technology at our fingertips, are things getting worse?  After all, those online Chat/Bot/machines and telephone virtual trees are always there; always offering to help us; always ignoring our curses.  If only they could actually help us, right?  I mean we wouldn’t be asking to speak to a person if the machine had solved our issue. 

I know everyone’s busy.  I’ll just have to stay on hold.  Hope I live long enough for them to get back to me. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.