So, whenever I walk anywhere with a comanion (mostly Piper so far) she does not keep up at all, and I haven't exaclty seen a "stay close to me" order for them, so, is there any way to deal with this other than waiting on them to catch up?

Lone wanderer, level 3 charisma, use it.

I end up waiting ... a lot. Does seem to be a problem. I also noted that if I'm standing in one room crafting or whatever she'll just wander off to some other room and sit in a chair or light up a smoke.

I do like the idel animations like that actually, at least when it's not in an area I'm 1st exploring anyways.

Hopefully they can tether them closer to you?