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There are various ways of delaying issues and various purposes.

There are those who postpone or procrastinate something that is difficult or painful because they do not want to do it, they want it to go away. It rarely does go away and the problem becomes worse.

Please note that this trick is different from postponing or procrastinating a difficult problematic or painful issue. When postponing or procrastinating the perpetrator is likely to suffer. In the issues noted in this article, the delay is carried out in an intentional way in order to force winning a situation. The delay itself is not the issue, as it is with postponment or procrastination. It is the control and winning that is at stake and they are winning as a result of the delay and hurting the victim in so doing. With postponment and procrastination the person who postpones or procrastinates is the victim. That is quite different.

That is not the issue that we are going to discuss in this article.

Many people using last-minute timing as a way of controlling others. Leaving important issues for the very last minute may serve to be a very good way of controlling other people. The person who does this or the organization that does this can be very successful, but it is always and inevitably annoying to the victim.

A school board that realizes that a school has to be changed from elementary to junior high because of the changing age of the population can sit down in advance and negotiate with the principal and possibly the PTA and the teachers and get into a protracted discussion and possibly arguments. In order to avoid this they might postpone the decision until the school is about to open and then suddenly say that the school is going to have to be changed. When there are protests they will say listen we would love to be able to change the situation but what can we do? The school is about to open. We have no choice in the matter at this stage. This is the only thing that we can possibly do. Let's do it for this year and next year perhaps we'll be able to change the situation. Of course, by the time an entire year goes by there's little chance that anything will be changed. Everything is already pretty much settled.

A friend who wants to keep her options open as far as making plans might delay the decision until the very last minute. By not announcing whether she will join her victim in an activity she lets the victim wait and the victim is tied up and cannot make other plans for that day without looking bad. The person who is delaying the decision, on the other hand, is free to make any plans. She wants to including that day, after all she has never committed herself. The victim always hurt when this happens.

Pending. An institution may agree to hire an employee or a teacher "pending" approval or sufficient registration. The victim has to wait until the last minute to find out whether the time has been approved or the appointment has been approved. The victim cannot schedule any other ongoing business during that time slot, but the employer reserves his options. Again, the victim is upset because of the restrictions but the employer always wins in this case, at the expense of the victim.

A student postpones handling an assignment until the last minute, and then tells the teacher that she should be excused from not doing it because of something that came up at that last minute. There is no way to explain to the student that she should have done the work earlier because her argument is always that she's very busy and she didn't have any time to do it earlier. The teacher is put in the difficult position when the student does not do the work. The student expects to be able to be released from the assignment because of her timing.

A problem needs to be solved. The person who can solve it postpones the necessary activities that are required in order to resolve the problem and the initial, minor issue, is now exacerbated. The initial issue becomes nearly forgotten as the new, larger issues need to be handled while the perpetrator raises her hands in defeat and asks well, what do you expect me to do now? Thereby passing the solution to the enlarged problem onto the victim. Yes, this method does indeed work. It is successful. However, it does create several issues. There is one person who dominates, or controls, and another one who is a victim in each of these cases. The one who controls makes certain that she will win the situation and she does. This technique does work.

However, the result is inevitably an angry and frustrated victim who does feel controlled unfairly.

Thus, the victory comes at the expense of positive interpersonal relationships. Yes, the victim does have to go along with the decree. There is very little that can be done.

However that victim is likely to wait for the opportunity to return that "favor."