Excuses and more excuses

Here is an old story circulating the Internet.

Two lawyers went into a diner and ordered two drinks.

Then they produced sandwiches from their briefcases and started to eat.

The owner became quite concerned, he marched over and told them, “You can’t eat your own sandwiches in here.”

The two lawyers looked at each other, shrugged and then exchanged sandwiches.

Now that makes it legal.

Creative? Yes, but not everyone can be fooled easily.

Here is another story.

A young man wasn’t thrilled when he received his draft notice. The thought of being summoned as a soldier and then sent to war was not what he wanted. And so he thought of a way that could help him fail the physical.

Doctor: What do you see on that wall over there?

Young Man: What wall?

Doctor: Great! You just passed the hearing test.

See? His excuse (or creativity) did not work.

The work scene is where a lot of creative work is being done, both legitimate and otherwise.

From an anonymous source in the Internet, I found this funny list about the top funny excuses for someone caught sleeping in the work cubicle. (I don’t think this is true, but this is certainly entertaining.)

• “It’s okay...I’m still billing the client.”

• “They told me at the blood bank this might happen.”

• “I was working smarter, not harder.”

• “I wasn’t sleeping! I was meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm.”

• “I was testing the keyboard for drool resistance.”

• “Actually, I’m doing a “Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan” (SLEEP) I learned at the last mandatory seminar my boss made me attend.”

• “Are you discriminatory towards people who practice Yoga?”

• “Why did you interrupt me? I almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem.”

• “The coffee machine is broken.”

• “That cold medicine I took last night just won’t wear off.”

Do you know how frustrating it is when dealing with people who come up with so many excuses for their poor performance, misbehavior or flaws in character?

Some people are so creative in inventing excuses. This “creative” energy should have been spent in doing the job well instead of creating excuses. 

The incomparable management guru, Peter Drucker, says, “There are two types of people. Some people are into results, and some people are into reasons, reasons why they cannot produce results.”

God created human beings with the ability to think and create. When we create ideas, we become creative. But when we create excuses, we become deceitful.

The invention of excuses actually prevents the person from being wise. The opportunity to learn from the mistake is waived in favor of some reason to “get off the hook”. And the effects are tremendously catastrophic.

People see deceit and dishonesty behind the excuse and would disqualify the person from future opportunities.

It is difficult to do business with people who make excuses. You have to constantly be on guard against their tendency to cheat and deceive.

 Honesty is still the best policy and it takes a lot of character and courage to be honest.

Instead of making excuses, why not just do the job?

Benjamin Franklin said, “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”

Someone said, “Bad men excuse their faults; good men abandon them.”

There is no way one can succeed by being good with excuses.

Spend two life-transforming days with Francis Kong learning leadership and life skills as he present Level Up Leadership on March 17-18 at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries, contact Inspire at 09158055910 or call 632-6310912 for details.