Waiting is an activity that is virtually carried out by everybody at every time and everywhere. In contrast to other occupations, such as playing the piano, it does not require painstaking training efforts. Notwithstanding, we do possess methodically employed techniques of indicating to others that we are waiting—that is, we make our waiting recognizable as such. Many forms of waiting in everyday life are bound to specific places: waiting shelters, waiting rooms, waiting halls. The waiting person is thus visible and frequently forms a waiting community with fellow waiting people. Moreover, many forms of waiting take a specific form (a queue). But also in situations where such recognizable social formations are not possible (e.g., when waiting alone), people make clear to themselves and to others that they are waiting. Primarily people waiting in publicly accessible spaces demonstrate to each other and to others what they are doing—that is, waiting. They do so in a methodical way and thus make their actions accountable for themselves and others as an ordered structure. Hence, there is a sense in which waiting people wait competently, making their waiting visible to others as a “doing”—a “doing waiting” in the sense of ethnomethodology. The essay pursues the question of waiting people’s particular handling of the space they are in and the material available to them: which spatial resources are made available to them by the specific locality? Which material resources are provided? In what ways do waiting people make use of this space and the objects to which they have access? How do they use other elements of the physical environment? Which additional resources are brought along? The article addresses these questions by using empirical data of natural situations of waiting (ethnographic fieldnotes, photographs, drawings, and video recordings).

中文翻译：

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做等待：民族方法学分析

等待是一种几乎每个人随时随地都在进行的活动。与弹钢琴等其他职业相比，它不需要刻苦训练。尽管如此，我们确实拥有有条不紊地向他人表明我们正在等待的技术——也就是说，我们让我们的等待被识别出来。日常生活中的许多等待形式都与特定的地方有关：候车亭、候车室、候车厅。因此，等候的人是可见的，并且经常与其他等候的人形成等候社区。此外，许多等待形式都采用特定的形式（队列）。但是，在这种可识别的社会形态不可能的情况下（例如，独自等待时），人们也会向自己和他人表明他们正在等待。在公共场所等待的人主要是向彼此和其他人展示他们在做什么——也就是等待。他们以有条不紊的方式这样做，从而使他们的行为作为一个有序的结构对自己和他人负责。因此，在某种意义上，等待的人能够胜任等待，使他人看到他们的等待是一种“做”——一种民族方法学意义上的“做等待”。这篇文章探讨了等待人们对他们所处空间和可用材料的特殊处理的问题：特定地点为他们提供了哪些空间资源？提供哪些物质资源？等待的人如何利用这个空间和他们可以访问的对象？他们如何使用物理环境的其他元素？带来了哪些额外资源？本文通过使用自然等待情况的经验数据（民族志田野笔记、照片、图画和视频记录）来解决这些问题。