A person waiting quietly is still spending real time.

Patience is often mistaken for availability. Someone sitting in a waiting room, holding on a phone line, or standing by while you finish something is not idling; they are spending hours of a finite life, and their silence is politeness rather than indifference. Because they do not complain, the cost never appears anywhere, so it is easy to keep spending it.

Where people wait on you, put a number on it. Tell them how long, and tell them again if it changes. When you are the one running late, say so early rather than arriving with an apology. And when someone has waited well for you, say so.