It reminded me of a visit to Egypt several years ago. As an efficient American, I was appalled that the hotel desk clerk, off to fetch a passport, would disappear for 15 minutes, finally to emerge in intense conversation with a coworker he'd bumped into. The passport he'd gone after was by then a mere afterthought. Truth be told, I never got used to such practices, but it helped to be informed by a guide that in Egypt people take precedence over tasks. The living, enfleshed person in front of you has priority over the conceptualized assignment.
People maniacally rushing from task to task can easily dispense with the inefficiencies of civility.
Machines can be reliable and regular, but never polite or considerate. One last structural factor, which Nancy Reagan and friends would certainly never mention, may be corroding our national civility. I am generally a nice person with a propensity to be helpful. But my patience is stretched when working long hours for meager money at a job any idiot could perform. . . . Or consider the factory receptionist who knows the CEO makes an annual salary 70 or 80 times greater than his or her wage.