Waiting Room Boredom

My husband went in for a simple procedure yesterday. What should have taken less than an hour ended up being 3 hours, half of that waiting to even get called to the back to begin.

So what do you do when you have to wait? And wait. Here are my tips:

1. Always have a book on you. Whether you bring an eReader or a paperback, have it.

2. Pad and Pen. A must have. Yes, I got some writing in. Other waitees kept giving me out-of-the-corner glances, wondering what I was writing so furiously and could it possibly be about them.

3. Bring a snack. Okay, I didn't. Nor had I eaten because I wasn't hungry and we were going to grab lunch together afterwards. Mistake. The only thing louder than my scrawling pen over paper was my stomach growling. That got several looks as well. And then we didn't have time to eat because I was late for work. Grrrr. A reeses peanut butter cup, though satisfying, is not lunch.

4. Um, possibly the food network wasn't the best channel for the telly's waiting room. Oh my gurgling belly, all these mouth-savoring dishes kept flashing across the screen. I think all of us in there were holding back from making a run on the nurses' stash and devouring all the juice and crackers. Several were white-knuckling their armrests. Have enough courage to ask the receptionist to change the channel.

5. Bring a smart phone. I do not wear big girl panties yet. I have not graduated into the era of smart phones, mores the pity. I bored holes into the guys happily social networking their way through waiting room boredom, most likely tweeting about being trapped in a waiting with a scary woman staring at their high-grade technology.

6. Play Brick Attack on your not-smart dumb phone. Boringest slowest game ever. Pong was more exciting.

How do you relieve waiting room boredom?