7 Best Ways To Politely Ask Someone To Be Patient (2023)

Sometimes people rush you, and it can be difficult to find a polite way to calm them down and tell them to wait. This article has found the best synonyms and ways to ask someone to be patient politely, and we recommend you try a few next time!

What Are The Best Ways To Politely Ask Someone To Be Patient?

There are a few great ways to ask someone to be patient in a polite manner. They include the following:

• Thank you for your patience
• I appreciate your patience so far
• You have been patient so far, and this should only take another minute
• Thank you for waiting
• I know your time is valuable, so please bear with me
• This should take just a while longer
• Please be patient

The preferred version is “thank you for your patience.” We use it to highlight someone as being “patient” for us directly while also saying “thank you” to show we appreciate that we’ve taken up a lot of their time, and we’re happy they haven’t argued with us yet.

Thank you for your patience

Let’s start by looking at the preferred way of asking somebody to be patient.

“Thank you for your patience” works when we want to be appreciative of the patience someone is showing. It works especially well when they’ve been given opportunities before to complain to us but have so far chosen not to take them.

Of course, the longer a business deal or transaction takes, the more likely it is that someone is going to complain about it. If they haven’t complained yet, even after taking up a lot of their time, you should thank them for the patience they’re showing.

Sometimes, even when they’re not being patient, it’s good to use “thank you for your patience.” It works well to remind them that you’re doing everything you can in the situation, and you’d appreciate a little more time to work things through on your end.

We can see it used in the following ways:

• Dear sir,
• Thank you for your patience. This should only take another few minutes, and then you’ll be good to go!
• Yours faithfully,
• Mr. Danbridge

• Dear Mr. Parker
• Thank you for your patience. I know your time is valuable, and I’m doing everything I can to get to the bottom of this for you.
• Kind regards,
• Hubert Hum

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I appreciate your patience so far

“I appreciate your patience so far” is a good way to show that you’re happy that someone has been patient to a point. However, the inclusion of “so far” often means that you won’t be surprised if they stop being patient soon, which isn’t always a good strategy.

Using “so far” means that they’re likely to become impatient at some point in the future. While it’s a good phrase to use in many cases, some recipients will see that as a challenge or a way of you saying that their issue will take much longer than you anticipated to solve.

We might see this phrase used in the following ways:

• Dear Mr. Richards,
• I appreciate your patience so far, and I’m very close to finding the solution for you.
• Thank you again for waiting,
• Mario Bellini

• Dear Mrs. Storm,
• I appreciate your patience so far. I know this can’t be easy for you.
• Kind regards,
• Mr. Morrison

You have been patient so far, and this should only take another minute

We can use this phrase to tell someone that they’ve done well at remaining patient. We use the second part of the phrase to let them know that it shouldn’t be much longer before we’ve fixed the issue or done what they’ve asked of us.

On its own, “you have been patient so far” is not a good phrase to use. It seems standoffish, and many people will be offended by it.

However, adding the clause “and this should only take another minute” is a great way to turn it back around and show that you’re actively working to fix the issue the customer or employee might have had.

You could see the following email scripts work with this phrase:

• Dear Mr. Anderson,
• You have been patient so far, and this should only take another minute. I really appreciate your time.
• Kind regards,
• John Jackson

• Dear Mrs. Aubergine,
• You have been patient so far, and this should only take another minute.
• Yours sincerely,
• Harriet Edwards

Thank you for waiting

“Thank you for waiting” is a much less formal phrase, but it works well in many situations. It’s a common phrase native speakers use over the phone, which shows that it’s more appropriate in spoken English (and thus informal English).

Still, there are plenty of chances to use it formally in emails. If you want to thank someone for their patience, “thanks for waiting” or “thank you for waiting” is an appropriate way of doing so.

The slightest less formal phrase can work in the following ways:

• Dear sir,
• Thank you for waiting. I hope everything that I’ve delivered for you was up to scratch with your expectations.
• I look forward to doing business with you soon,
• Juliet Romero

• Dear Arnold,
• Thank you for waiting. I am glad we managed to find common ground to work with here.
• Kind regards,
• Romeo Caesar

I know your time is valuable, so please bear with me

We can use this phrase to show that we care about the person we’re talking to. Appreciating that someone has “valuable time” is a good step toward building a strong rapport with them. “Bear with me” encourages them to be slightly more patient while you continue to work.

It’s a good overall phrase that shows you value the customer or employee, while also allowing yourself slightly more time to get through the work.

You might see this phrase work in the following examples:

• Dear customer,
• I know your time is valuable, so please bear with me while I try and figure out what went wrong during the packing process.
• Thank you,
• Off Goods Co.

• Dear Master Chess,
• I know your time is valuable, so please bear with us. We’re sure to find the root of your problem in a matter of minutes.
• Thank you for your business,
• Tom Harding

This should take just a while longer

“This should take just a while longer” is a decent phrase, but we should be careful how we phrase the rest of the email or correspondence. Sometimes, it could seem a little lazy to write, and we need to make sure we still thank them in some manner afterward.

You’ll find that “this should take just a while longer” works when you’re imminently going to complete the task. If you say it without a confirmed deadline, you’re likely to annoy the person you’re speaking to more than they were in the first place.

You might see this one in the following situations:

• Dear Mrs. Snow,
• This should take just a while longer, and I appreciate you emailing me for an update about the situation.
• Kind regards,
• Harrison Forte

• Dear Maria Hill,
• This should take just a while longer, and then it will be as good as new. We’ll send you another update when it’s being packaged.
• Thank you,
• Dr. Jones

Please be patient

“Please be patient” is another way of saying it, but it’s the least polite form on this list. Some people believe it sounds demanding. However, if you word the email correctly, you can use it in appropriate and polite ways that will be useful to you.

“Please be patient” works well when we are working hard to complete the work. It works to show that we’re currently undergoing the work expected of us, but we’re not close to finishing it just yet.

Finally, while it’s not the most polite form, it still works if you phrase it correctly:

• Dear Ms. Darling,
• Please be patient while we try to source the error you’ve listed. We’re sure it won’t take long to figure it out.
• Thank you for your time,
• Mr. Davenport

• Dear Greg,
• Please be patient while I try to figure out this issue for you.
• Kind regards,
• Stewie Martin

What Does It Mean To Be Patient?

When someone is rushing us, it can put us on edge. It can also lead to a lot of pressure building up, which often makes us sloppy and rush our own work. It helps to be patient in these situations.

Being patient means that you’re politely waiting for something whilst expecting it to happen. Even if you expect that thing to happen quickly, patient people are often calm even when presented with obstacles that slow down the expected time.

Generally, people believe themselves to be patient in most scenarios. However, when presented with a situation where their expected event is pushed back (i.e., if a doctor’s office is overrun and behind), they might find that they’re not as patient as they wish they could be.

Impatient people often get very loud and aggressive because they find their time to be more valuable than everyone else’s. That’s why we put this article together to help you find calm and polite ways to get them to have a little more patience.