[pmarreck]

> People really, really like knowing that you are 100% attentive.

I can explain this. As your reliability to someone else dips below 100%, your effective utility to them drops far more drastically. (Imagine Google was up only 95% of the time.) I only realized this rather late in life for some reason (although I was already doing it intuitively). It seems to apply to friendships, personal relationships, and work relationships... as well as services. Basically any interaction.

Instant response = reliability. That makes you more valuable to other people.