It’s a great relaxer, whenever you’re waiting for something, standing in a line up, sitting on a bus, in a slow moving drive-thru*, and so on. I guess the common factor is being idle, without immediate purpose; this can make you anxious. to an outside observer it’s funny, everyone askance, phones out and heads down. But yeah, it’s fulfilling a real need, on some level. * Sitting outside with teas at Coquitlam’s (aka Drive-thru Ville) latest Starbucks, watching vehicles crawling through their take-out line, nearly all drivers looking down, in the glow. The line moves in fits and starts, as drivers eventually look up, see a gap has built in front of them. blessed cooler this morning here, btw. (Tapped out on a phone.)
Games. Music. Videos. Social Media. ....Classic Literature. Repair manuals. Reference materials. I remember growing up in the 60's when people said the same thing about TVs. They probably said the same thing in the 20's about radio. Or in the 18th century about newspapers.....
Sitting in the doctors waiting room currently, he is an hour late so far. Enjoying priuschat and other social media. Used to be magazines back in the day. This is more entertaining and hygienic
that was an excellent one. more recently, docs began donating their own used magazines, which provided little interest
Our previous dentist (same place we’ve been going for decades) always stocked the waiting room with Motor Trend and it’s ilk; had me wondering about his prices… seriously he was a good one, and did everything, even implants. Current dentist refers us to $pecialist$ more.
Or 4,000 BC - about scratching pictures into the side of the cave using a rock. Now, with many folk's virus paranoia, those magazines don't get touched much at all. .
I happened to say to my barber the other day "at least you must be saving on magazines for the waiting room" and she told me that they all came both free and unsolicited.
My dentist has us call while waiting in the car and a nurse comes out for 'vitals.' Then we mask up and go inside, direct to the examination room. I suspect the waiting room furniture and carpet will never age. Bob Wilson
good thing you have a pacifier to call them on. pay phones are getting harder and harder to find, even for superman
I was a late adopter, and I can recall one year, prior to acquiring a phone, went to the Pacific National Exhibition (big fall fair here, at least pre-COVID), dropped everybody off, found a distant (free) parking spot, walked back and into the fairgrounds, and yeah, they'd ditched me, not at the agreed meeting place. There was ONE clapped-out, less than useless pay phone, with a big line up. I think I finally found them by a combo of administrative office allowing me to make a call, and a whole lot of wandering around as well. You can keep those days, lol.
i finally caved, and got a free iphone se 2020 with a 2 year $15./mo. 1 gb xfinity plan, unlimited talking and texting. kind of an experiment to test their network before moving mrs b off of her $90./mo. at&t plan
I haven't seen any magazines in waiting rooms since the pandemic began. Half the places don't (or didn't) allow waiting inside. The other half, removed all such materials.
We travel at least once a year from Ohio to Florida and back. We have my phone clipped to the dash playing Pandora music, displaying a map and providing GPS instructions. It speaks to us via bluetooth through our car audio system. It mutes the music momentarily to announce which lane to be in or what exit to take and then the music resumes. My wife's phone is there just for a phone although she can search where the next pet friendly hotel is, book it or find the next rest area or Shoney's on her 4g tablet. That is when she is not checking e-mail, surfing or playing games on it. I couldn't imagine this technology just a few years ago. We have progressed from our spartan 70's Pinto wagon, an 80's Ford Escort wagon and 90's Dodge Caravan with pretty much manual everything and no options except an AM radio, cigarette lighters and ashtrays to an Odyssey that is much bigger, quieter, more comfortable, gets great highway mileage and has power everything except for the ashtrays. We use a multiple USB power adapter in the cigarette lighter outlet which has since been renamed the auxilliary power outlet to provide power for our many connected gadgets. Over the years, the owners manual for these vehicles went from about 20 pages to 300 pages to describe how to operate all that stuff. Actually the first 20 pages or more of the Odyssey manual was dedicated to cautions and warnings. You have to wonder how someone who needs some of those cautions and warnings ever got a license? Would those people even read the manual? It has been an amazing journey.
You are being "modest". My 2012's main manual is 636 pages. But there are three more (including maintenance & warranty booklet) to push the total beyond 950.
