Monday, April 5, 2010

The dog ate my homework...

... and other such nonsense.

Over the past couple of months, I have had a few guys very lamely cancel and/or postpone dates with me using the WORST excuses imaginable.

(Seriously, boys. If you want to cancel, just say so.)

(Also, FWIW, I barely talked to and/or emailed/texted with the boys who cancelled these dates, so I don't even feel like they had enough exposure to me to even warrant a cancellation!)

Regardless, here are some of the doozies I've heard lately:
  • My mother had a heart attack. (Note: I'm not a totally cold-hearted bitch. I felt TERRIBLE when I heard this one. Until he cancelled with a lame excuse a second time. Gloves off, buddy.)
  • I have a wake to go to. (Again, not totally cold hearted. But he also followed this one up with a second blow-off.)
  • I was out of town and am just now getting back to people. (Oh, sorry. Didn't realize your phone doesn't work when you're out of town. And thanks for calling me "people.")
  • My brother got married. (I'm guessing you went dateless based on your inability to keep plans??)
  • A client rescheduled a dinner to tonite and "I gotta pay the bills!" (Eeew.)
If I didn't know better, I'd start to get a complex. But instead, I'm just shaking my head and wondering what the next lame excuse I'll hear is.

What's the worst reason you've heard for cancelling/postponing a date?

14 comments:

Amy Green @ Sweet Home Amy said...

Lame-os! I can't believe they are acting like dorks.

Stacy said...

It has to be this gem: "I was in traction in the ER this weekend. Sorry I missed our date." True story. He even sent a photo along with it to prove it. Eeewww.

Megan said...

So I have to tell you that I briefly dated a guy who was the king of cancelling...he and I are still friends...let's just say neither of us was taking the seeing each other thing really seriously. Anyway he would cancel because his college roommate showed up in town (unannanounced?), his coworker was diagnosed with cancer and he and his boss were going to visit him, his refrigerator went out and he was trying to repair it, his friend got too drunk to drive and called him so now he has to go retrieve him and take him somewhere...some of these may be cancellations for non dates, but friendly hangouts instead. You can trust that I give him a hard time about it. We are actually good friends now though... so I ignore his flakiness...although he's much improved with the years.

Suburban Sweetheart said...

I used the "a friend died" excuse recently... but, um, he did... I hope I didn't look like a jerk. But I was crying. So I bet I didn't.

I usually just straight-up bail. And then never attempt a second round of plans. Nice, right? Oops.

Anonymous said...

UGH! you are pushing WAY TOO HARD. Just because it's your priority to settle down already doesn't mean you can strong-arm someone into playing along.

Why not use charm, like most women?

Your being single is starting to be your own fault and not these guys...they probably aren't wild about being forced into things just like surely you aren't...

Always a Bridesmaid said...

Amy -- ha ha! I know.

Stacy -- that was CLASSIC.

Megan -- that's funny. Do you still tease him about it?

Suburban -- sorry about your friend! And I totally bought that story until he cancelled again.

Anon -- not sure why you think I'm trying too hard. I didn't pursue any of these guys. They all initiated with me.

Anonymous said...

My favorite was the guy who told me his daughter was sick, and then I saw him out that same night with a group of people! Busted!! Yea, we didn't go out again after that.

Allison M. said...

uh oh, anonymous looks like the classic internet troll..

Not so much as canceling a date, but I was on my over to my now ex-bf's house to break up with him and I got a phone call from a friend who told me he had a concussion. Only me.

MG said...

did you or were you tempted to call shenanigans or bullshit on any of these?

and if tempted, how did you talk yourself out of doing so?

Always a Bridesmaid said...

Rebekah -- OMG, that is classic! Did you confront him?

Allison -- ha ha! You heart breaker. ;)

MG -- I didn't call bullshit bc, honestly, none of them owed me anything. Plus, contrary to what anon suggested, I'm not in the biz of convincing someone they want to date me. C'est la vie, right?!

MG said...

hmm... I was considering saying "maybe im incredibly confrontational (I am), but i'd prolly still say "sure, but your reason for doing so is a lie and i am aware of that" and then never talk to said person again."

but whatever, if some tart wants to go to the trouble of asking me out then canceling, i'd prolly not worry about it either

Maxie said...

I think I'd rather be cancelled on than have to sit through a shitty date-- haha

Kasey said...

I had a guy I was trying to meet F2F after "meeting" on a dating website. We had numerous emails & phone calls; he lived about an hour away - then he kept canceling last minute due to Grandma being very sick and almost dying for like 3 weeks. See ya dude!

Lately, I've had an interesting influx of young guys (21-28) from the same website very anxious to meet up. I'm in my 40s & am not pursuing the Cougar thing but there seems to be quite the fascination out there, so I'm open to it... One night I had IMs with 4 of them going at once. (Multitasking queen) Yet, NONE of them seem to have any "game". One guy kept texting me, "Hey wanna hang out?" felt like I'd be going on a playdate. PASS!

Anonymous said...

I've used a couple in my day, and you're right, they should just cancel, cause that's why I used the excuse. Here's my best cancellation...."hey, ummm, yeah, listen...about tonight, I hate to do this, cause I'm not that type of guy, but, I hooked up with someone last night, and I'm wiped out...can we reschedule?" She did not want to reschedule.