The waiting game

I am soooo not a fan of the waiting game. I submitted a query to an agent three and a half weeks ago, and I haven't received any type of a response. Not a 'hey, got your email, we'll read it as soon as possible,' really, I'd appreciate something so that I know it reached the right hands. I know that you're supposed to wait 6 weeks for a response, but who really has time for that? Agents don't like you submitting to someone else while you submit to them, but I really feel like the waiting game is complete crap.

So, I'm going to start researching other agents, or possibly publishers. I know there are some publishers out there who say its mandatory to go through an agent, but there are many others who don't. So, between projects I think I'll go ahead and start researching others to submit it to. Some authors submit to 5, 10, 15, or even 20 or more agents/publishers at a time, and I bet its those authors that get a deal sooner. I guess its time to play research-girl.