There are some good answers here dealing with boredom during long flights and with the physical stress of piloting, and with what pilots to do during a delay. I'm interested in how pilots cope with the mental stress of delays.
Consider - you're flying home, you've been sitting on the tarmac for three hours with no idea of when you're going to be cleared to take off, and your child has a birthday party you really want to make. Another five minutes and you're going to have head back to the terminal because of the mandatory rest period; the tower starts to give clearance to the planes in front of you but they seem to be taking an interminable time to complete their checklists.
These are the sort of things you face as a passenger; luckily for most of us they're pretty infrequent.
For a pilot, however, they must be quite regular, especially on certain routes. And the added complication is that the temptation to rush or cut corners could lead to disaster.
Do airlines have specific training on how to cope with the stress caused by situations where they will find themselves under time-sensitive / delay pressures?
Robert Hays under pressure in Airplane!