How to Make the Most of Time While You Wait

Teasing your customers with glimpses of what you have afoot keeps them coming back to find out more, if you parcel out details one by one.

On the Other Hand, Don't Delay

But that's all about when you have to wait. What about when you must make others wait for you?

Miss Conduct might lose her etiquette-expert-club jacket if she did not mention her disdain for an unfortunate (if popular) impulse to assert control by making others wait for you at appointments. Wise ones know that this only asserts the offender's immaturity; the most successful businesspeople avoid unnecessary delays.

With the above as a given, it's worth remembering that to wait knowing that one's presence and patience are enthusiastically appreciated is never hard. But having to cool our heels under the impression that no one cares if we live or die of old age always is.

Keeping that in mind, let those who wait for you receive good things in advance.

If you've had to delay someone beyond a few minutes, a sincere apology and picking up whatever tabs might have been generated in your absence usually dissolves the immediate rancor (unlike Bart Simpson's other tag line, "I didn't do it," because mature adults know that excuses don't work).

However, there's a topper that can resolidify the relationship at the next meeting. Scheduling the next rendezvous at the other party's convenience, arriving on time and thanking them once again for their previous patience work wonders to remove any lasting residue of your transgression.

In short, patience is not just a virtue -- it's money in the bank.

You can wait productively, wisely allowing time to give you its benefits, or you can impatiently salivate like Homer Simpson at a donut shop. Etiquette and good business dictate the former.