The same delay can be an inconvenience to an office and a catastrophe to a household.

The same two weeks can be a scheduling note in one place and a lost tenancy in another. Offices measure delay against their workload, households measure it against rent, medicine, childcare, and the end of a month. Neither is lying about what the delay is. The gap between the two measurements is where most institutional harm actually happens, quietly and without anybody intending it.

When you are waiting on something, describe the consequence in the units the household uses. When you are the one causing a delay, ask what happens to the person at the far end during the interval. That single question changes priorities more reliably than any policy about response times.