Even though you always look busy, you have a strong attention to detail, you get along well with your boss and co-workers, and everything seems to be well in the universe, eventually you will hit a speed bump. Either by your fault, or by the fault of others, something will go wrong and the day will come when you will need to have an excuse.

Where do we begin? This is a very important topic and must be examined very carefully. A well structured and thought out excuse cannot only save your job but may make you look really good. This topic is actually an extension of “Never really lie” but we felt it deserved its own chapter. Rod tends to think much quicker than myself (hey I can admit it) so for the most part I will defer to him on this topic but I do want to put in some of my own thoughts. Besides quicker does not mean better even if Rod is the king of fast excuses.

Remember, it is a fine line when making an excuse between lying and exaggerating and as discussed previously only lie in a worst-case scenario. As a bonus we have included some generic excuses and possible generic scapegoats in Appendix A.

For more information please buy our book. Thank you.