Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Excuses, Excuses . . .
This is my last blog . . . and I forgot to post it last night. This will come as a surprise to no one. In the past two years, I think I've put up my blog late probably half the time.
And really, I have no excuse. There's a reminder in my personal calendar. There's a reminder that get's emailed to me. All the technology in the world is coming together to keep me on track, and I still somehow get behind.
Which got me thinking about excuses, and the kinds of excuses we give.
Has anybody ever come up with some excuse to escape, just to go read? Or write? I have to be honest, I regularly find myself making up excuses to leave a room or a group of people, to go read a book. I like books more than social interaction, but you can't say that to people. "I'm sorry, I much prefer to sit alone in a room with make-believe people than talk to you any more." It just doesn't have a friendly ring to it :)
Anybody else find themselves sneaking away from groups of people to go read a book? What kind of excuses do you give? What's the best excuse you've heard? Anyone else prefer a book to people? (Hellie, I know you're with me on this one!)
And just because it's my last blog:
And really, I have no excuse. There's a reminder in my personal calendar. There's a reminder that get's emailed to me. All the technology in the world is coming together to keep me on track, and I still somehow get behind.
Which got me thinking about excuses, and the kinds of excuses we give.
Has anybody ever come up with some excuse to escape, just to go read? Or write? I have to be honest, I regularly find myself making up excuses to leave a room or a group of people, to go read a book. I like books more than social interaction, but you can't say that to people. "I'm sorry, I much prefer to sit alone in a room with make-believe people than talk to you any more." It just doesn't have a friendly ring to it :)
Anybody else find themselves sneaking away from groups of people to go read a book? What kind of excuses do you give? What's the best excuse you've heard? Anyone else prefer a book to people? (Hellie, I know you're with me on this one!)
And just because it's my last blog:
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29 comments:
I admit that I'm bad about the phone. I find excuses to avoid it. I worked at a few jobs, right out of college, that required me to be on the phone ALL DAY. I had a headset. I'd be talking to people sometimes for 12 hours, straight. Either they called me or I called them.
A lot of times these people weren't happy. Either with me or with their situations. (I worked in mortgages. I processed them, collecting customer information and getting them to closing. I wasn't selling any of those toxic loans, but I saw a LOT of them.)
Anyway, bottom line? The sound of the phone ringing still fills me with dread. It's a Pavlovian response, I'm sure. So, sometimes I avoid it until I can work up the guts to call people back. Just sometimes though. If I've got my big girl panties on, I pick it up.
Great blog, Hal (and lovely hottie additional).
Um.. shirtless man- yes please.
I can come up with a million reasons just NOT to write. Even when I want to write. Even when my fingers are itching to hit the keys.
If I'm forced to socialize, more than likely you'll find me in a corner with my Kindle. And I will conveniently pretend I have complete hearing loss if someone has the misfortune of trying to interact with me while my Kindle is out.
Love the just because. :)
Afraid I'm a talker. I'd likely put down a book to sit and chat. Though, obviously, it depends on with whom I'm forced to chat. Generally speaking, I'd stick with people.
I've become an anti-excuse person. I don't like to make them, and I don't like to hear them. This is in a work environment though. Let's face it, in regular day life, shit happens. It's a cliche, but it's true.
THIS is just funny and completely appropriate. *LOL* The fact that you forgot to post, I mean--that just makes me laugh my ass off. *LOL*
I'm with Marn, I will find about any other way to communicate with a person other than calling them. I hate the phone, and I don't even have Marn's excuse--other than the fact that when people call, they want something they can't have or they're pissed about something--and it's a demotivator in making me want to talk to anyone by phone. I'd rather email them--so I don't have to hear their protests.
And as for books, YES, I resemble that remark. In fact it is my practice to bring a book (maybe two in case the first one is lost) to make sure I'm not without a book to read during any free time I may or may not have. And when I'm at lunch--I can't afford to eat out or get away from the office, so I'm in the break room, eating my leftovers, reading my book, and invariably I get, "What are you reading? Oh, I'm not interrupting am I?" Makes. Me. Crazy.
I'm not very good with excuses. I'm more along the lines to disappear and it's hours later someone realizes I've gone--but by then I'm reading happily and eating chocolate. I don't want to give an excuse because there is a very probable likelihood they'll try to talk me out of it and/or succeed. So I just go away. If I'm at someone's house and my book is unfortunately at home, I usually say, "It's getting really late. I've had a really busy day." "But it's 8 pm." "Yeah, but I usually go to bed at 9." And read til midnight, but no one needs to know that part. They'll let me go to sleep; no one likes to interrupt my sleeping patterns. I'm a bitch. But reading they consider fair game because they think they're more entertaining.
Oh, and yes, NICE HOTTIE.
And to be fair, if we're laughing and sharing stories, I won't usually disappear to read. I will if we're at a bar, talking about some skinny bitch we just saw across the room and making up crap about her--it's such a downer to do all the time and why?--I'm not for the bar scene any more and will usually find any excuse to avoid it. Also if we're at your house and instead of talking about anything, we're watching the Food Channel. No. Just no. I get to read if you're more interested in the Food Channel.
I enjoy lunch out with good friends and small dinner parties with interesting people, but I loathe big parties where most people talk at rather than with one another. I am a champion at excusing myself, and I nearly always manage to avoid such gatherings. When I was still in academia, I ate lunch in my office with a book in hand unless I was going out with close friends. I avoided the faculty gathering spots and department politics if I could possibly do so.
The oldest grand remarked at our last family gathering that we had two kinds of people in our family--the phone people and the book people. I looked around and sure enough, although there were a half dozen different face-to-face conversations going on, everyone from the seven-year-old to the 60+ group had either a phone or an ereader in hand just in case. LOL
I enjoy lunch out with good friends and small dinner parties with interesting people, but I loathe big parties where most people talk at rather than with one another. I am a champion at excusing myself, and I nearly always manage to avoid such gatherings. When I was still in academia, I ate lunch in my office with a book in hand unless I was going out with close friends. I avoided the faculty gathering spots and department politics if I could possibly do so.
The oldest grand remarked at our last family gathering that we had two kinds of people in our family--the phone people and the book people. I looked around and sure enough, although there were a half dozen different face-to-face conversations going on, everyone from the seven-year-old to the 60+ group had either a phone or an ereader in hand just in case. LOL
I took my Kindle to a cattle call (audition) yesterday, in part because there would be loads of people and crowds scare me, but mostly because I'd be waiting, and waiting, and I needed something to do. Ran into some folks I knew and chatted part of the time, but once they went on ahead and I was alone with a bunch of strangers, I hid in my book.
Lately I've been taking the Kindle to work, or anywhere that I might have idle time and be bored. I've regressed to being the sullen teen in the corner, nose in book, iPod playing my tunes.
I don't make excuses [for not writing]; instead, I simply get distracted. Easily.
It's as if Pinterest has been reading our blog.
http://pinterest.com/pin/169377635959100121/
Perfect Pinterest to go with the topic!
Marn, I too hate the phone with a passion, but I don't have a good reason like yours (I cannot fathom that job!). I think my biggest thing is that I can't see body-language ques, so I just start rambling and can't stop, and then I turn into an idiot, and then . . . well, then I usually hang up. Like Hellie, I do almost all my work via email :)
In my 20s, I worked in the call center for Opryland Hotel, The Grand Ole Opry, and Opryland USA (now defunct amusement park.) I loved it.
HOW did I get on this crew???
I love that you're the extrovert of our group, Ter! (or one of - though it sounds from today like you're outnumbered by introverts :)
I'm anti-excuses at work as well. I mentioned to my husband that I had missed an important conference call and had apologized profusely and still felt bad. He said "well, I'm sure when you explained, they understood." It never even occurred to me to explain to anyone why - that feels too much like an excuse. It doesn't matter if I had a good reason, I still missed a damn meeting and forced someone else to track me down. Seems better to just own it and apologize rather than trying to figure out if it was a good reason or bad reason.
Then again, we have one woman at my job who has a bull-shit excuse for everything, so I may have swung too far the other direction.
Sin, I'd be right there in the corner with you. I've tried that hearing loss thing, though I don't find much success. When I was little, I found that if I unfocus my eyes stare at one fixed spot ahead, no one will try to talk to me. I still use that sometimes :)
I am greatly outnumbered, but that's not always a bad thing. :)
Yes, a valid reason is not an excuse. I've been saying this phrase a lot lately. "Sorry, my life has been a bit crazy lately." This is NOT an excuse. It is truth and a valid reason why I have missed calls, not read things, forgotten to return calls, and am probably dropping the ball on at least a dozen other things.
Ter, you worked at a call center voluntarily?
I require my staff to do phone calls. Lots of them. And I feel guilty, because I totally couldn't do it myself, and I hate asking someone else to do something I'm not also doing. But seriously. I'm not calling people.
I should have specified. All incoming calls. I can answer the phone and take questions/make reservations all day. I do not do outgoing calls. Those are no fun.
It is truth and a valid reason
You're totally right. That's the line I need to figure out better. Because "I have too much on my plate" is a valid reason, and instead of giving it, I just say, "sure, I can do that too! Why not?"
*me, smacking forehead on desk*
I'd say incoming calls are better (and they definitely are for me), but Marn may disagree and say they suck at a similar level after her experience :)
Well, excuses...sorry I slept in... ;-)
Well, I have an odd reverse on this. I will go out to lunch so I can read at lunch. If I have a bunch of stuff to do, I seldom just stop to read...
I think ...it's easy to make up excuses. I used to laugh when I sold stuff at SCA events. the merchants had a huge list of excuses for why nothing was selling... Everyone is at court. Everyone is getting ready for court. Everyone hasn't finished court. Everyone is at the battle. Everyone is at the banquet. It's raining, it's too hot...on and on and on. There are always excuses for everything!
You know, I'm more of a blamer. (BTW, it's never my fault.)
Unless it's all my fault.
Hellie, there's no more appropriate a topic for my last blog, is there :)
so I'm in the break room, eating my leftovers, reading my book, and invariably I get, "What are you reading? Oh, I'm not interrupting am I?" Makes. Me. Crazy.
Yes! I get so annoyed when someone interrupts me while reading. My mother in law is a freaking librarian and she still does it! Of all people who should know just how frustrating that is!
Like you said, they think they're more entertaining. ha.
but I loathe big parties where most people talk at rather than with one another.
Ah, Janga, what a great way to describe it. I too try to avoid those whenever possible. It's taken me a long time to realize that I much prefer being one-on-one with a friend than in any sized group. Although it's easier now that I have a toddler, as chasing him such an easy way out, and something that can keep me occupied. And he makes for a good conversation starter.
That's funny about the phone and book halves of your family. I'm going to watch for that at our next family gathering, though I'd think that our phone percentage would be tipped higher than the book percentage. Then again, maybe some of those people are reading books on their phones!
I've regressed to being the sullen teen in the corner, nose in book, iPod playing my tunes.
Pat, I love this image. It sounds like heaven. A crowd like that would definitely have me regressing into a corner.
Mo, those lists of excuses get to me, too (though I'm no good at selling, in general :)
And stopping to read is the very best reason to stop!
And sorry if my comments sound a little funny today. I spent five hours in the car this morning listening to a book on tape. It was a Regency (Mary Balogh) read by a British narrator, so now everything I saw it coming out proper and stiff :)
No one on this ship is ever going to complain about something being properly stiff.
;)
That's no lie!!
I realized what I had said about the time I hit send.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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