courtesy delay

refers to any pause or temporary postponement of a minor action (speaking, standing up or shifting your position while seated or in bed, switching on/off a light or music device, performing a “noisy” task like moving furniture or operating a motorized household device, etc.) that a thoughtful considerate individual performs (often with a moderate taxing of his own patience/bodily comfort) so as to avoid/minimize the startling/distressing impact of said action on one or more other nearby humans, such as a slumbering partner who is super-exhausted and/or is in a lot of pain or other acute bodily discomfort that he feels whenever he’s awake, and thus the only time he has relief is when he’s actually asleep.
cool dude #1: geez, buddy — why da awkward limp and droopy shoulders?!?!???
cool dude #2: (groaning in pain as he hobbles over to sit beside his friend to watch the ball game with him): oh, just da cl-ssic “courtesy delay” woes, pal… i was sitting cross-legged on the gr-ss with my girlfriend, and she had fallen asleep with her head in my lap… i knew she’d been up since 3 a.m. to help her mom care for her colicky baby brother, and so naturally, mr. soft-hearted here couldn’t bear to wake her up by changing position, and so i just hadda sit motionless on the cold hard ground with my muscles going numb and cramping up for half an hour till she finally came awake to turn over herself.