People tend to give excuses than speak out their mind straightly. I personally think excuses are much more terrible than cruel truth. Truth might be hurting, but it shows honesty. Giving excuses doesn't mean you're polite, it only makes you a pretentious person.

My spainsih language exchange started to ask me out after the 2nd LE. I didn't accept as I was busy with work and travelling and stuff at first several times. In fact I merely wanted to exchange language, nothing else. The real truth is he's not my type. So I only focused on LE with him even tho he seemed not to give up asking me out. Then one day I met him on YM and he invited me again for "whatever i wanted to do". I didn't want to break his heart but I counldn't pretend anymore, so finally I told him I only want friendship and LE. He didn't reply my sms anymore.

A friend of mine has rejected my sunday invitation 3 times. Same excuses have been used-- I need to write report for work. Sometimes i got compensation, which is a hang out at some week day, but god knows I don't really feel comfortable catching any appointment during weekdays as my off time is unpredictable. And this is my old friend who knows my lifestyle well. The truth behind the excuses is, the report only takes him 2-3 hours to write and he's been out on saturday and perhaps sunday is his chillout day. But he chose to give excuses rather than being honest. I don't invite him any more.

The most common excuse at work is "i don't know how to do it" or "no one tells me how to do it. Everytime I heard of it I knew one is going to pass responsibilities, and I knew one is not reliable at all. You find this kind of people everywhere and you can do nothing with them. They're smart in some way but also a piece of rubbish in this world.