When eating out: the purgatorial
time between receiving the
check and receiving your receipt. In this space, you are trapped, having already finished your food, but cannot leave the restaurant because the waiter inexplicably does not just take your card when he gave you the
check. And when he does, takes 10 minutes to come back. Generally not seen outside the US, where waiters, more smartly, carry credit card machines with them.
Finished my
meal at Applebee's at 9pm, but didn't leave
til 930, spending 30 minutes as a receipt hostage.