Meet Mr. Excuse Master who has excuses for everything all the time

 By K.R. Nayar

Some people are known for giving excuses all the time. For some, it is a habit that is hard to overcome. They go to any extent to create excuses and save their skin....but after a point, people will start to lose trust in that person. A close examination of such people reveals that in most cases such people have rarely gone on to be successful in their lives.

There have been quite a few people that I have met who cannot help giving excuses. They come with wild explanations for not making it to a meeting or not doing what was expected of them. In fact, they sound so sincere that one could actually fall for their reasons and believe in them. And then they come up with some more reasons the next day to justify their inaction the earlier day. 

In due course of time, he starts believing that others have come to the conclusion that his promises are not to be taken seriously. During my growing up days, I knew someone who belonged to this category.  My friends gave him the nickname ‘Excuse Master’ and that name stuck forever.  On occasions when our friends' group would plan a trip, and if at all his name was suggested by someone from our group, others would jump at him and say 'please excuse inviting our Excuse Master". They believed he would either delay the trip by hours or cause some other complications. 

Things reached such a stage that we would all be eager to listen to his well-crafted excuses. One of my friends was blunt enough to tell him that if he had put his imagination and talent to craft excuses into something creative, he could well have been a millionaire in no time. 

There were times when he would confess that he never ever be late from now on. But even before he could complete his sentence, someone was bound to ask him if that too was an excuse.  Some people even urged him to write a book on excuses. Once we presented him a birthday card with the words, "May you be stronger than your excuses".

Imagine the risk while traveling with such a person in a hot air balloon!! The balloon might just go higher and higher given the amount of air he could fill in every conversation he makes!   I've also noticed that once this habit gets deep-rooted, such people have no hesitation in including their dead relatives as well. At one time it could be their grandfather who passed away and at another time a distant aunt or uncle.

Actually, any relative would suffice. Then there are always the usual roadblocks, traffic jams, misplaced mobile, a pipe burst in the kitchen, gas leak, and alarm failing to ring that causes the delay. One time I had someone tell me that he had a severe attack of flu and had thrown up twice before coming to meet me. At that point, I felt bad that I had forced him to attend the meeting, only to realise later that it was just an excuse!  And how can we forget those who always forget to carry their wallet or cash when they go for lunch with friends!

After the Covid 19 pandemic, now companies too can use excuses without the fear of being questioned. Despite making profits, they can always cite the pandemic as an excuse and continue with their salary cuts and delay promotions. 

Ultimately, when we give excuses for everything that we fail to do in life, it is highly unlikely that we will be able to put in efforts in the right direction to succeed.  Let us make sure that people don’t remark 'Excuse me' and walk away.