A Waiting Room Book

Gary North

July 19, 2008

Recently, I went to my physician. I got there at 11 a.m. as a walk-in. That's because asking for an appointment had not worked. A week before, his desk girl had refused to hand my appointment request to a scheduler. "We'll call you." They didn't.

There were few people in the waiting room. There were two physicians on duty. Nevertheless, it was two hours before mine saw me. Then it took 30 minutes to get treated. He runs his office like the Keystone Cops.

I took a book with me. I got several chapters read while I was waiting. It was work I had to do anyway.

I always carry a spare book in the car. If I forget to take along something related to work, I have this book as a back-up. It can be a general-background book. It can also be a "fishing" book in which I look for ideas that I can use in a book or article. It's a book that doesn't require detailed reading or for which I need to take detailed notes.

My time is valuable. Waiting in the patients' waiting room in wasted time. They don't call us patients for nothing! So, I convert what would be wasted time into work time. This reduces the cost of the visit. The cost of the visit is close to nothing: a $15 co-pay (Medicare). The time cost is high. I can reduce this cost to almost nothing: drive time, which is 3 minutes each way.

When you know there is a chance you will sit around waiting to get served, take a business-related book with you.