Waiting Rooms - Dead Zones of The Imagination
There is something about waiting rooms. The mood is generally low, quite and boring. The mode is standing waiting for a seat to empty up, or/then sitting on mundane chairs. Staring at your waiting number helplessly. Phone scrolls endlessly. Life magazines staring at you. Everything is in order. Orderly grim. A lot of people look frustrated. And you cant do so much about it. Waiting rooms are “Dead zones of the imagination”
Thats the term coined by David Graeber in his book the Utopia of Rules, suggesting that bureaucratic environments actually make people "stupid." He did not specify waiting rooms per say, rather largely how systems rely on arbitrary rules and the threat of force rather than communication, creating "dead zones of the imagination" where common sense and creativity are stifled in favor of following procedures.
I am not here starting a revolution to abandon rules or advocating for skipping queues, nor hinting at bribing reception officers. It is just the way it is.
Waiting rooms are a test of time preparing all of us for judgement day.
Waiting rooms vary from a country to another, culture to another. I have spent a lot of time at waiting rooms across multiple countries. usually to process visa extension or notary offices registering companies. Both are spaces with deep bureaucratic rigor. What a joy!
If you think about it they are also social rooms: random people all sitting in the same room. Except that socializing is not what happens. We can all understand why!
The science behind waiting rooms lays on two processes: a supply-demand dynamic.
On the supply side, waiting rooms makes me think about the backlog bureaucrats experience. I am sure they are equally frustrated and have a queue of work that keep on being extended.
On the demand side, waiting rooms are a reflection of our collective culture and personal backlog of passion projects. Long waiting times and lines stalled by the weight of paperwork and process. I am yet to understand the science behind how an actual bureacratic backlog has an impact on ones ability to sideline personal projects into a backlog, because you are held up clearing a more important backlog. You see the connection? They are not related processes, but lowkey intertwined. Imagine how much culture is lost in this process.
The least we can do is design better waiting rooms.