# Would you agree that most people these days feel rushed & are impatient?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 18, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136 "2019-05-18T02:01:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/21 "2019-05-21T16:57:45Z")
Another retail person here. I can be accepting payment from a customer and another person will come to the line and say “Can you open another register?” What, you can’t wait two minutes?
And don’t get me started on the people who can’t put down their damn device for the two minutes it takes me to make a transaction. No, they got to on that device and I have to say everything at least twice before they respond.
As my sister put it “Reality is now irrelevant.” Nothing matters but that device.
---
### Author:  [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/22 "2019-05-21T18:40:14Z")
> [@](#):
>
> What, you can’t wait two minutes?
Two minutes or 15? Some stores are great, but others have three lanes open and 10 closed and lines at every register and that bugs me.
I’m a big proponent of no more than 40 hours a week. I think employees should be paid extra if they have to tend to emails off the clock. I have several hours a day where I am not just relaxing. But I don’t like waiting in line. I’m not asking anyone to work on their break (and I’ve never asked for a lane to be opened) but I certainly think more employees and enough lanes open to minimize waiting is a plus. And yes, I’m willing to pay more for it. And to pay more for grocery store and fast food workers to be paid a certain wage - I think a full-time job should at least support a single adult in a one-bedroom apartment. Of course, I also know many of those aren’t full time.
---
### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/23 "2019-05-21T18:50:16Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> I’m retired so I finally have time to slow down.
>
> My wife’s best friend couldn’t believe how exhausted she was when we had “one little baby.” After all, how much trouble could taking care of a baby be while you also had a full-time job. So we let her take the baby for a weekend. You know, when no one had to go to work.
>
> She apologized profusely to my wife. Yeah, there are a lot of people who are lucky to even get a chance to go through the drive-through at McDonalds.
>
> As for those young, single, carefree folks, they’re all working 50+ hours a week, running errands before, after, or during work, and trying to have some kind of social life, even if it’s only online. And those middle-aged empty nesters who are coasting to retirement? Ask them how much time they spend helping out their aging parents.
Retirement has brought me to a state of apathy with the universe. I’ll get to it when I get to it.
---
### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/24 "2019-05-21T18:50:57Z")
> [@Tzigone](#):
>
> Two minutes or 15? Some stores are great, but others have three lanes open and 10 closed and lines at every register and that bugs me
The 13 lanes are to create the illusion of a successful business: “When we’re really hopping we get all 13 going! But this is a slow time so we only have 3” (Lookin at you, WalMart) So hey this MUST be the place to shop!
In reality, they have no intention of opening another lane if it means you’re not going to spend at least 10 minutes staring at the impulse buy rack. They want one more buck out of you, and this is where they intend to get it.
---
### Author:  [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2019, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/25 "2019-05-21T23:34:15Z")
tl; dr
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
---
### Author:  [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2019, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/26 "2019-05-22T07:04:23Z")
> [@ataraxy22](#):
>
> tl; dr
[Obviously…](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21653879&postcount=18) 😉
Now that I have time for a less flippant answer than before, one thing to keep in mind is that we are in an attention economy, people’s attention has become a ruthlessly sought commodity. Most people these days are at the end of a chain constantly being yanked here and there. _look at this!, look at that! over there, shiny!_.
Things have been set up so that people are expected to be up to date with everything, rushing news, TV series, this and that, constantly hooked to external external stimuli.
There’s no money to be made from people being immersed in their own thoughts or spending time with others (without that being an excuse to consume something, as in all the ads showing friends congregated around a product); so that is insidiously discouraged.
---
### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2019, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/27 "2019-05-23T04:35:55Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#):
>
> I do remember reading a big news story out of Honolulu few years ago. It seems one driver honked (twice!) at another who was trying to pass him. He was convicted of “Hawaiian Road Rage” and sentenced to 10 years hard chillin’.
>
> Seriously–I’m trying to imagine what passes for road rage in Hawaii.
I do not believe someone went to jail here for 10 days let alone 10 years just for honking. I’ll need a cite. But I am familiar with cases in which someone honked at someone, and then the honkee chased after him and shot him dead, and _he_ to jail. I’ve personally witnessed drivers trying to force other cars off the road, which is not uncommon in Honolulu.
---
### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2019, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/28 "2019-05-23T13:00:47Z")
I think you got whooshed. Unless I’m grossly misunderstanding Hawaiian culture, “10 years hard chillin” would mean he was forced to sit on the beach with a cold drink and relax. If you’re really bad you may be forced to spend a few hours a day submerged in seawater with nothing but a plastic tube to help you breathe. Brutal island savages.
---
### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2019, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/29 "2019-05-23T13:11:15Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#):
>
> I think you got whooshed. Unless I’m grossly misunderstanding Hawaiian culture, “10 years hard chillin” would mean he was forced to sit on the beach with a cold drink and relax. If you’re really bad you may be forced to spend a few hours a day submerged in seawater with nothing but a plastic tube to help you breathe. Brutal island savages.
Twenty some years ago I was visiting Dominica. Touring the island I noticed a small building with bars over the windows. I chuckled and asked my driver if there was so little crime on the island that they could get away with such a tiny jail. Nope, that was the jail for kids. Children who were truant, or otherwise misbehaved. Islands can be tough.
---
### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2019, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/30 "2019-05-24T04:07:05Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#):
>
> I think you got whooshed. Unless I’m grossly misunderstanding Hawaiian culture, “10 years hard chillin” would mean he was forced to sit on the beach with a cold drink and relax. If you’re really bad you may be forced to spend a few hours a day submerged in seawater with nothing but a plastic tube to help you breathe. Brutal island savages.
It’s true I was wondering what that breeze was. I guess I mistook it for our gentle trade winds.
---
### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2019, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/31 "2019-05-24T12:54:25Z")
Some of it’s the phones. Some of it’s the attention grabbing. Some of it’s that now generally every adult in a household is supposed to be working for pay, with the result that any housekeeping and/or child care that gets done needs to be done during “spare” time.
And some of it, I think, is that we’ve wound up with a culture that thinks everybody ought to always be doing something. Even “recreational” time is supposed to be spent actively doing something, whether it’s a sport or getting a massage or trying to keep up with social media. Even young children are supposed to have supervised activities. Just plain sitting and staring at the sky, or at a tree, or at what’s going on in the grass\*, or at what’s going on in one’s own head, is something that we’re trained not to do to the extent that many people are horribly uncomfortable at the very idea.
\*quite a bit, if you look hard enough; especially if you’re not looking at a single-species lawn poisoned within an inch of its life.
---
### Author:  [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/32 "2019-05-24T13:03:02Z")
Maybe people are rushed and impatient, but I’d be surprised if it’s really a problem particular to “these days.” People are pretty consistent over time, and a lot of the modern problems are only possible because we’ve saved time dealing with other problems, like cooking and washing clothes, which used to be hugely laborious tasks.
---
### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/33 "2019-05-24T13:37:18Z")
It’s been six days since the OP and people are still just getting around to making their first post in the thread?
C’mon folks, get with it. How can it possibly take so long to reply to a thread???
😉
---
### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/34 "2019-05-24T15:49:15Z")
I think there’s been a turn for the worse in the past few decades in terms of what’s expected of people from their jobs, both in terms of on-premise work hours, as well as after hours via email/text.
So while our parents were able to work a strict 8-5 with an hour of lunch, and have no expectation of calls/emails at home, that’s not something many people get away with these days.
Combine that with longer commutes, heightened child care expectations and a general expectation that whatever you do, you have to do it in some kind of exceptional fashion, and it’s not surprising to me that they’re feeling harried.
Look at it this way- if you wake up at 6 and it takes you 45 minutes to get ready and another 15 minutes to get your coffee/breakfast/children’s stuff ready, then you’re leaving for work at 7. If you then have an hour commute, you’re getting there at 8 am.
Let’s say you work 9 hour days… you’re now leaving at 6 pm, driving that hour (or more) back. You’re getting back near your house at 7 pm. And you have to go work out. Now you’re getting back at 8. At some point you have to eat- if you’re not picking something up, you’re probably taking a minimum of 30 minutes to prep and eat it. It’s now 8:30 and you may have to do laundry, dishes, put your kids to bed, read to them, etc… You’re probably not getting any kind of a break until about 9:30 I’d guess.
So people try and cram stuff into the little gaps- working out during lunch, listening to audiobooks on their commutes, etc… But that’s its own kind of stress trying to manage all that, and that tends to make people irritable and stressed out.
---
### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/35 "2019-05-24T21:16:34Z")
So you make some compromises and maybe take a smaller salary for a job that’s closer, with more flexible hours. I did that (oh, and biked to work which gets the workout out of the way), and quickly learned how to get ready in 15 min.
(watch for my TED talk where I demonstrate my 5-minute shower…)
---
### Author:  [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/36 "2019-05-25T13:48:26Z")
I’m semi-retired. I still work a bit, but not on a 9-to-5 basis. It’s very difficult for me to get bored…life is too great to miss by making it go by faster. Since I retired, the following have become blindingly obvious to me:
Too many people expect IMMEDIATE responses. For example, I teach a certain one-day class about five times a year. Last week, I had a guy try to reach me (or my partner in the company) SEVEN times between 9:00 AM and noon to see when our next class was scheduled. Seriously, he e-mailed me on two different addresses, left a message on my home phone, e-mailed my partner (a “Need info?” link on our website), left a message on the company phone twice, and sent a Facebook message. When he didn’t have a response by noon, he tried the two phone numbers again.
Another big group of people don’t give sufficient consideration to what they are going to say/write before they respond. I hardly ever got “nastygrams” when I was in the office ten years ago, but now I get all sorts of ill-considered responses and communications that are obviously the product of a person who was emotionally-charged. Angry about a matter? Frustrated? Stressed? Put it away, give yourself a couple hours to cool off, and then respond in a courteous and professional manner.
---
### Author:  [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136/37 "2019-05-25T17:07:25Z")
Speaking like their ass is on fire. Some companies have outgoing voicemail messages that are spoken so quickly I can barely track. And they want me to make note of a website dot com slash slash slash. Nope.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-agree-that-most-people-these-days-feel-rushed-are-impatient/834136.md?page=1)