Waiting

I was just reading a news story about the fact that Americans (as a rule) hate to wait in lines. Duh! And the story goes on to say that grocery store lines are the worst; along with lines at the DMV. Well, DMV lines are no longer a problem if you use their appointment system or use a DMV office in a remote town. But lines in stores (Any store) are particularly irritating to me. The store wants my money and I shouldn’t be forced to wait in line to give it to the merchant. Here’s the story…

“The Department of Motor Vehicles, the U.S. version of the old Soviet bread line, is among the top spots where Americans hate to wait. But grocery stores are the worst.

Almost one in four in the AP-Ipsos poll picked the grocery checkout as the line where their patience is most likely to melt like the ice cream turning to liquid in their cart.

And it seems people don't mellow with age. The survey found older people to be more impatient than younger people. (Aha!...so it isn’t just me.)

Nor does getting away from the urban pressure cooker make much difference. People in the country and the suburbs can bear a few more minutes in a line before losing it than city inhabitants can, but that's it.

In short, Americans want it all NOW. Or awfully close to now.
"If you ask the typical person, do you feel more time-poor or money-poor, the answer almost always is time-poor," says Paco Underhill, an authority on what draws and drives away shoppers.

"We walk in the door with the clock ticking with various degrees of loudness in our heads. And if I get to the checkout and if I have the perception it's not working efficiently, often that clock gets even louder."

Americans are demanding, too. Half in the AP-Ipsos poll said they refuse to return to businesses that made them wait too long. Nearly one in five owned up to speaking rudely to someone in the last few months when they weren't served efficiently.”

As I said; why should I have to wait at all to give them my money? Don’t they want it? My guess is that it’s all about power. As consumers, we need to feel as if we are in charge of the transactions. We already know that we are being cheated somehow (it’s all in our heads) and so it becomes imperative that we have some small success in the deal. Being waited on promptly and courteously is considered a success. Being forced to wait? Loser!