Chemics Perception

Many businesses rely on clients showing up a bit early for their scheduled appointments. This ensures a steady flow from one client to the next but, for the clients, this oftentimes entails long, boring waits in lobbies, waiting rooms and other areas. This can make clients feel frustrated, unappreciated and as if the business is wasting their time, an intolerable slight in a world where most people have very demanding schedules and not a great deal of time to sit back and wait around to be seen. Satellite television subscriptions are very affordable and placing a television in a viewing area can make a long wait feel much shorter.

Television has long been known as the "electronic babysitter". Though this moniker may seem somewhat condescending when dealing with adult clients, waiting areas where parents accompany their children to appointments can be made much less chaotic, for parents and the staff, by adding a television. Satellite television has several family-friendly stations that work well to keep children occupied and interested while they wait. This also helps to alleviate the anxiety that many children feel when they're forced to sit still for a long stretch of time.


For adults, the news channels available on satellite are popular choices for waiting room fare. While some of these news channels may be criticized for providing short, less than in-depth reporting, this format is perfect when adults are stuck in a waiting room and just need something to pass the time. The content is generally interesting enough to spark conversation between clients and to keep them interested in the programming without demanding a great deal of attention be paid to follow the gist of the reporting. The stations that specialize in headline snippets are particularly popular. The combination of fast-moving stories, interesting video and the "crawls" along the bottom of the screen that offer information on upcoming stories, stock prices and sports scores ensure that just about every customer has something to watch.

Weather channels are immensely popular for waiting room scenarios. While it may not be the most intellectually stimulating subject of conversation, weather channels are interesting for the vast majority of people and make passing time a much more pleasant affair. There is little to offend any viewer on a weather channel, making this choice particularly good for areas where clientele may be mixed between adults and children.

Satellite television subscriptions are a nice alternative to the general interest magazines that filled waiting rooms of the past. The content is usually more interesting and can greatly reduce the stress of having a significant wait. Adding such a service is very affordable—actually less than adding a few magazine subscriptions—and, of course, the service is essentially self-maintaining. Consider mounting a television in your waiting room to keep clients happy and to provide something to think about other than the amount of time they may have to spend before the staff can attend to their particular needs.

By: Kenneth McPherson