The strange thing about the waiting room is not that it exists but that it works, most of the time, for most people. The usual story is that we are careless calculators. The better story is that we are careful about the wrong things. Notice how rarely anyone is argued out of the waiting room, and how often they are simply moved past it by a change in circumstance. None of this is new. Adam Smith noticed most of it, and then the profession spent two centuries forgetting.
What it gets right
The mind that evolved for small groups and immediate dangers is now asked to manage a pension. It does its best. It is tempting to call this irrational. It is more useful to ask what it is for. Nobody sets out to be governed by the waiting room, yet it shapes an astonishing share of the ordinary day. A pattern this consistent is not a character flaw. It is a design feature, and design features can be worked with.
