What's the difference between an excuse and an explanation?
The other day I was meeting someone for lunch and I was half an hour late. When I arrived, apologizing profusely, I approached the table and I could tell that whatever I was about to say wouldn't matter. I could have been held up at gunpoint. I could have been in a car accident. I could have been in a car accident and then held up at gunpoint and I knew what his response would be. "Well you should have left earlier.'
And blaming it on traffic is the worst way to go. There's always someone who will point out: traffic doesn't make people late, it makes late people later.
So how far in advance am I supposed to leave to make 100% sure I'm not late? If I have a lunch plan with someone do I leave after breakfast?
But if you think about it, the person who is waiting has it easy. They're inside, sitting at a table with a glass of wine, quietly fuming. Whereas the person who's rushing not to be late is on the verge of a stroke. We're stuck in a tunnel of darkness underground with no way to escape, sweat dripping, the mobile has no signal and the train isn't moving. And, worst of all, you know that when you arrive and say 'The tube had delays' or 'Traffic was terrible', you might as well be saying 'I don't care about you' because that's all they hear.
Why is it that people who are kept waiting never seem to think about the people who are late? It's very inconsiderate.