When my stepson - who lives 14 hours away and we hardly ever see - was in town for one night to participate in a wedding, he stayed at my house. I contacted my exH (his dad) to see if he wanted to join us for lunch, his excuse was that his mom (who he lives with, with his dad and brother) likes to go out to lunch on Saturdays to use her credit card so she can get 5% back. THAT to me was the worst excuse EVER. I mean, who gives up the opportunity to see their son who they see maybe once or twice a year if he's lucky - just to go out to lunch with someone you live with who you go out to lunch with all the time?

Later, I found out that he was just irritated that his son chose to stay with us overnight instead of someone in his family or my stepson's moms....I tried to explain that he wanted to spend time with his little sister (my daughter) and it was convenient for him to stay here. He still chose not to see his son.

I guess my point is - one, bad excuses are infuriating. Two - sometimes there's an underlying feeling or reason that's being covered up by a bad excuse.