It's an elaboration on Friday's tutorial session!
Have you ever have friends whom you have attempted to ask out, and the reply was always 'I am busy'? Or do you have friends that actually agreed to some thing, and then changed their mind at the very last minute?
Sure you all do. And sure I did. And sure I did use some of those excuses, but only when I have no choice.
There are a lot of factors that will affect one's decision. Time, place, ability, purpose, etc. But by just saying 'I am busy' does not serve any purpose.
Imagine the following:
"Hey! Lunch?" "No. I am busy"
"Oi! Movie?" "No. I am busy"
"Hello~ Class gathering!" "Cannot. I am busy"
Etc etc etc…
It's like, how can anyone be NOT busy? Everyone is busy with one thing or another. So, how can a person be always busy with something, while there are people who actually bothers to ask people out? These people are busy too.
But I am sure not all people are like that. Sometimes, by simply adding in the reason for being busy, people will accept. "No reason given" will be like "not even bother to explain" and that will become "there is no need for you to know, because you are insignificant".
That's bad.
If you are the one that's always rejecting people, maybe it is time you take the initiative and ask those people that you have rejected out. But it might be a tricky thing.
You might end up having the same problem. Lol.
It's one of the things that's discussed during tutorial. If you use the "I am busy" phrase, people may one day use it back on you. If you can be busy, why can't I?
Another worse thing is backing out. Firstly, it's agreed upon, but at the last minute, there's a change of mind. That is the worst thing to do. It's forgivable once or twice, but never too often. It's like our class outings. The primary school one, where so many people had agreed to turn up, and yet at the last minute, a lot changed their minds. And mind you, that's on a Sunday. One reason cited was 'having homework to do'. Another one was 'bf sick, so have to accompany him'. The secondary school one suffered from the same fate. That was on a Friday. One guy gave 'piaing FYP' as a reason.
Personally I think it is very important to keep own's words. If not, it's going to be a very bad habit. Supposed if you have a date that has been mutually agreed upon, and at the last minute, the other party told you that he/she is tired, and decided not to meet up. Supposed you agreed to meet someone at a specific time but the person never turned up. You finally found out that he/she was still on the way, or worse, still at home.
Quote the tutor, "there's no such thing as 'ON TIME'. It's either you are EARLY, or you are LATE". Which one do you prefer? I personally prefer to be early. But, with respect to certain people whom I have known to be always late, I can afford to be late for 15 minutes. For certain extreme people, half an hour. But usually, I am very patient waiting for people. Well-trained to do so. There was once I waited for someone for 1 hour, if not longer.
And people who chooses to be on time, but end up late usually use the "busy with some other things" as an excuse. Maybe for extraordinary cases sometimes, traffic conditions, weather conditions. But what to do, people seldomly blame themselves.
So in conclusion, always try to fulfill something that you have initially agreed on, unless circumstances really prevent that from happening. And also, don't ever aim to be on time. Aim to be early. The early bird gets the worm.