Rant #2: Excuses
Wow, I was really hoping I wouldn’t get to the point of all my posts being rants, and yet here I am, post #3 and already having multiple rants. Ah well, I guess some days are worse than others.
Okay, so, here’s my beef today: people who bail on you with fucking stupid excuses. There are a few things that I consider to be truly valid excuses, and everything else is just complete bullcrap and people know it.
Please imagine the following excuses in the context of being invited to a party.
Excuse A: “I have to study.”
Actual situations where this is a valid excuse: your exam or paper due is TOMORROW.
Invalid when: it’s just arbitrary other schoolwork. For example, say you’re writing a paper that is due next week. My party runs from what? 8:00 onward? Who says you have to stay the whole time? Face it, from 8:00 to around midnight or so, you KNOW you will not be studying. You will maybe have a late dinner, then take an after dinning break browsing the internet or watching TV. Then you will go to sleep. And even if you were writing, you’re probably not going to be producing great writing at that time of night. Probably worked/had class all day and now your brain is fried. And dude, tomorrow is Saturday or Sunday! You have time to recover. So don’t give me that.
Excuse B: “I’m poor and don’t have enough money.”
Actual situations where this is a valid excuse: well, this is kind of a trick one.
You see, when it comes to MY friends, if they try to pull this on me, I tell them that I will pay for their ticket/buy them a drink/whatever, just to get them to come out. To me, seeing my friends and having a good time is more important than a bit of money. I mean of course you need to buy food and pay rent and bills - I’m not saying people should be flippant with their money. All I’m saying is, people will usually pitch to help you out when you’re strapped for cash. Such is the bro-code. Why just decide that you’re poor? Have you checked your bank account recently? Pulled up your couch cushions? Like seriously, it’s not that hard to have a good time without spending tons of cash. Or even better, we may suggest something that doesn’t even cost money at all.
Excuse C: (usually used after no-showing) “Oh, /such-and-such event/ came up and so I couldn’t go.”
Actual situations where this is a valid excuse: death, alien abduction, and the like.
This response is bullshit in that it is completely selfish. Basically you’re saying that you can’t take a few hours out of your busy life to spend time with me. Really? You can’t make some time to drop by, have a beer and chill for a few? Honestly, it makes me so mad when people no-show, especially because it takes two minutes to call or text. This is basically slapping someone in the face and telling them that you’re not important enough for their time. You may as well stop being my friend if you pull this one.
The list goes on. I know I’m being angsty, but I’m in a pissy mood and we all know what they say: if you don’t like something, complain about it on the internet.
