Over the past year and a half, I’ve had a whole range of experiences with services that have left me feeling that my time doesn’t matter. Delays, cancellations and a lack of communication have become a recurring frustration.

Today, my employee was told someone would arrive at 8.30 in the morning to fix her hot water cylinder. By 3.30 in the afternoon, she was still waiting. That also meant she couldn’t come and provide the support I was relying on her for. The consequences of keeping one person waiting can extend into someone else’s day.

What troubles me is the apparent assumption that waiting for a service is the only thing a person has to do. We have lives, commitments and things that matter to us. When a service keeps us waiting, the effects can reach well beyond that appointment.

For me, this comes down to empathy—and to the systems and cultures that shape how services operate. We can’t simply blame individuals for being part of a culture that doesn’t value the person relying on them. We need systems that make respecting people’s time, communicating delays and understanding the impact of an unmet commitment part of everyday practice.