What is the best excuse a friend has given you for not meeting up? I have a doozy.W

[CharlotteRumpling]

I have a friend who has told me she can't meet for a while because her 22 year old daughter has just started a Keto diet, and she needs to be at home to cook for her!

I feel slightly insulted that she could not come up with a better excuse not to meet! 😋

Looking forward to having a dog again soon and using her/him as an excuse to leave or avoid stuff 😄
When I worked in nursing years ago we had one very peculiar and unreliable colleague who didn't turn up to a clinic because 'it had been on the news about the weather being bad and not to travel unless it was absolutely necessary and her husband had told her not to go out'. Strangely it hadn't affected us getting into work nor stopped about a dozen patients turning up for their appointment with her.

I had a flaky friend who often used the "double booked" excuse when the reality was she would just see what she felt like doing.
One time we were meant to be taking a holiday with another friend. Flaky was driving, we were subbing petrol and parking. Accommodation was secured with a deposit. The day before we were meant to go she messaged to say she couldn't go after all as she'd forgotten she couldn't afford it. We didn't go and lost the deposit as we had no transport and couldn't afford to sub her share.
Last time I heard from her was about 3 years ago when she bailed at the last minute on something and I suggested she let mw know when she was next free.

“I need to leave early as my snake escaped and I have to catch it.”

It was a true one though! 😁

Oh no … I am a flaky friend! I don’t make excuses though I just say I don’t feel like it 😬. Luckily my friend is understanding and knows me well enough to know it’s not personal!

Leisure time stress! That's amazing! Is that being tired from chilling too much?! My favourite excuse ever if so! It should be put on a t-shirt!

Not a friend but a client.. called to say they couldn’t make their appointment because it was raining. They asked if they could make a new appointment for a day when it wouldn’t be raining 😂

I missed a meeting when in Uni because there were 30ish naked people (predominantly men) in body paint running around the street - we could see them all charging at anyone unfortunate enough to walk down the road. Everyone believed I made it up lol.

A patient of mine texted to cancel a psychological therapy appointment an hour before, because she had a hairdresser’s appointment 🤯

A mate of mine tried to pull out of a night out we'd arranged (we were in our early 20s at the time) because he'd gone round to another friend's house and she'd 'made' him take her shopping (she didn't have a car) and it'd made him run late. It was true, but I said tough, we made plans. He turned up. 😄

The same friend used to regularly run late because he couldn't decide what to wear. Only person I knew who took longer getting ready to go out than me. 😂

I had a friend who texted me to cancel last minute because she’d just remembered her Tesco shop was being delivered. Our lunch date had been in the diary for about 6 weeks and she lived 2 mins walk from Tesco… 😂😂

I used to train in a sport where we started every morning at 5am (except weekends). I remember a 17 year old fellow sportsman came up with great excuses about why she wasn't coming in (obviously had overslept and didn't want to get up). They included 'I've lost my car and can't remember where I left it so I can't drive in'; 'I fell over my dressing gown cord and hurt myself getting out of bed' and 'I stubbed my toe getting up'

This one has tickled me 🤣🤣

I once suggested a meet up with a couple of women from a group I went to. One was up for it and we had a great time, the other said she was "busy"...fair enough.
Then that evening she posted a meme on her Facebook wall saying:

When I say I'm busy I mean that I'm busy breathing in and out to make sure that the world turns as it should.

I was a lecturer in a FE college. One of the students came in half an hour late and when I asked him why he told me he had slept in. The class started at 2.30 in the afternoon.

When trying to book a Christmas night out in a group, a friend had ruled out a particular weekend. We all had various work and family commitments but when asked what's on that weekend she said she was visiting Santa on Sunday with the kids and didn't want to 'look hungover' in the photo.

A few years ago I was newly single and feeling fragile. A friend suggested we meet on a Sunday for a pub roast with her small kids. Lovely idea, I said. She then suggested we book for midday 'because that's when the girls eat lunch' - not my preferred time for a leisurely Sunday lunch, but fine, I just skipped breakfast. I arrived at midday; she turned up at 1.30pm saying she'd 'had to take the girls swimming'.

Honestly if that were my friend or sibling I’d be livid if they just came to my wedding and didn’t try to help the poor thing!

My step SIL - we’d made plans to meet quite far away for me, when I had a newborn. Text me about ten mins before I was due to leave to say she couldn’t meet because someone had turned up at hers unexpectedly?! Week before she did same thing due to headache. That was the end of any meet ups!

@LetsAllOvercomeOurFears

Great reply!!!

To be fair, I can be a bit like this. It's not that I think I 'can't' do more than one social even in a day (I know it's perfectly feasible) but I simply can't 'be' that sociable in one day. Does that make sense? Once I've had my 'social fix' that's me done...I have no bandwidth left for more.

As someone with Autism, I can relate to this

I once had a junior colleague (mid 20s) who blamed his mother making him porridge for making him late. I told him off for being disrespectful to his mother and to make his own next time.

Slightly off topic but such a good tale...

I was late for work once because when I stepped outside my house to leave it was snowing ... In summer.

I also had apparently ruined their shot and couldn't leave my house because it would put footprints in their snow and couldn't I wait?

They were filming 102 Dalmatians in my street. This was before mobile phones were really a big thing but luckily once I'd explained my boss was fine with it - although I'm not sure she ever truly believed me!

A slightly ligher version of this... DS was in year 6. Just starting to get independent, prepare light meals, get to school etc. He decided he really wanted to make himself eggs before school. I was concerned he was going to be late but he assured me he was on it.

Off I went with DD. But I was a bit dubious so I was sort of hanging at the school gates to see if he'd turn up. He didn't turn up. I had a bit of a chat with the teachers who were there and had to laugh at one who turned to DS' actual yeacher and said, "well, at least you'll know he's had a good breakfast and is ready for the day".

As it turned out, his bike chain had fallen off and he was pushing his bike up the road.

An absolute belter from a few weeks ago.

2 men (one is my partner's friend) are getting married, and as they have some common friends, decided to have a joint stag do - organised by friends, stags unaware of detail but aware of rough plan.

Everything organised, booked and paid for - long weekend in another city. The day before the stag do, the fiancé of my partner's friend texts the lead organiser to say that her dog was ill and it's unlikely the stag will be able to go.

A few texts go back and forth until the lead organiser (my partners best friend) decides to call the fiancé and ask if she's for real. Shock response from the fiancé, so the lead organiser bites the bullet and goes direct to the stag, who confirms he won't be able to go because his fiancés dog is ill.

2 of the friends of this stag had never met any of his other friends, so only knew him, let alone not knowing the other stag or their friends. They still came and partied for the weekend.

Absolute nonsense 🤣