Tonight was an interesting night. I had three separate occasions in which I was told, directly or indirectly, that I had to wait for something I didn’t feel I should have to. In a culture where I can google just about anything, order Amazon and have free two day shipping, and fly anywhere in the world within a day, waiting is not something we are use to. This creates a certain amount of disbelief or angst when it does happen.
1. AT&T’s waiting period to unlock phones
I called AT&T because I have an old iPhone 3GS that I wanted to unlock (allow to be used on other carriers). I was doing this for my girlfriend’s brother so that he could carry it to Japan in a couple of days. I called AT&T and the lady informed that they could get me the information, directed me to a webpage, I filled out the information, and then she told me I had to wait 24 hours for the unlock information. I could not fathom having to wait for something that “has been confirmed and approved, but has to be updated in the system.” So, as I sat there on the phone with AT&T, I continued to ask for some expedited service, they kept informing me that there was nothing that they could do. I learned that even some real-time systems require you to wait for a real amount of time. Therefore, I wait, and hope that the unlock information comes in sooner rather than later, before he leaves for Japan.
2. Books-A-Million’s policy to charge more if you want it now
Shortly thereafter, I went to Books-A-Million to pick up a copy of Think Like a Freak. I had already done my research and saw that it was $17.59 online, marked down from $28.99 retail. So I went to the store, picked up a copy, walked to the front and was told that online prices are online only. Save the business practice here, which caters to a future posting, this was another example of expecting an immediate result only being told to wait. The difference was in this case, I could pay 65% more to have that immediacy, but the expectation set was not available. If I weren’t determined to purchase the hardback to add to my Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics books, the Kindle would be an option, which is just another example of immediacy.
3. The Castle season finale [SPOILERS]
So after both of these experiences, I ran home to catch up on Castle and watch the season finale. My girlfriend and I watched “Veritas” and the season finale “For Better or Worse”. The end of the finale though left on one of the biggest cliff hangers since Kate was shot. Only this time, Castle is in the uncertain state of life. Now, until the fall, millions of people will have Schrödinger’s Richard Castle (he’s both alive and dead until confirmed otherwise). This wait is crazy, and my immediate turn to the internet for more information was an example of the culture of immediacy.
I think it’s fitting that imMEDIAcy is spelt that way, because media has a large part to do with it. We live submersed in so much media that everything is at our fingertips. How many times do we hear or use words and phrases like “urgent”, “immediately”, or “as soon as possible”? Commercials for businesses in the service industry are constantly touting immediate or timely response times. We have Twitter to break news faster than news stations themselves, Facebook so we don’t have to wait for a phone call or letter to know the happenings of family, and live television so there is no tape delay of what’s happening. When something happens, people are turning to every source possible to find the latest and most immediate information. Many times it can even downgrade the quality of the information being received, but we accept that due to its immediate gratification. I definitely learned, that as much as it isn’t in our nature, it’s not always bad to wait. Coming off of a vacation, in which there was no real agenda, sometimes time tables and urgency are important, but many times it’s just better to sit back and let things happen.
Of those three items that hit my need for immediacy, only one was anything close to urgent, and even that 24 hours was a semi-acceptable solution. However, I found a way to resolve each issue because I didn’t want to wait for that particular solution. The only thing that changes is the resolution involves much less immediacy and much more waiting.