ngry. Upset.

Maybe the word is ticked-off.

Excuses -- I hate them.

Listening to someone's excuse is almost as exhausting as running a marathon.

Whether it is an excuse about being late or one explaining why you didn't turn something in, they are all the same. Everyone has problems, but get your priorities taken care of.

Like many of you, going to class is not the only thing I do at Tech, but I manage to get everything taken care of on time, without always having an excuse.

"My car wouldn't start, so I'm late," "The fire alarm went off in my dorm" and my favorite, "My arm got stuck in the blood pressure machine at Wal-Mart."

Whatever happened to simply saying, "Sorry, I'm late," and letting that be the end of it?

Evidentally that memo was lost while society was making an excuse as to why we didn't get it.

I'm not saying I never make excuses; I'll be the first to tell you I'm occasionally guilty of making them myself (emphasize the word occasionally).

But I mean for goodness' sake some people have an excuse for everything, which I find extremely annoying. Just tell me you're going to be late, you couldn't get something done or whatever the case may be.

Is it really necessary for everyone to know every detail of why, unless it is pertinent to what your doing?

I could think of a thousand other things I could have done with the time I have spent listening to excuses.

I know it sounds a little cold and uncaring, but when people start telling me relevant excuses and not something they pulled out of a hat, then maybe, just maybe I will be more understanding.

If you are going to give an excuse for something at least be somewhat creative and attempt to make it believable.

Here is a great example of what not to say: "My dog was asleep behind my car, and I couldn't wake him up." At least use the "Oh, I've been here for 20 minutes. I was just waiting on you, listening to music in my car" excuse.

When people make excuses continually, it reflects on their personalities. I know certain people who do this, and I also know that those people are not nearly as dependable. Not to say they are bad people or anything like that; I just know I can't count on them as much as I can others.

I am not trying to say everyone I know makes excuses all of the time, but anywhere I go and anything I am involved in, there is bound to be those one or two people I meet who are excuse-aholics.

I actually think I attract these types of people to me. I don't find them, they somehow always find me. Or maybe they know I don't like excuses so much they purposely do this. No, I am kidding, but I can guarantee I hear more than a dozen excuses a day.

Maybe I am being a little too harsh on these excuse-makers. Although if people would get their things done, there wouldn't even be a reason for an excuse, but then what would I write about?

I feel like I have complained enough for one day about making excuses, so I better end it now.

I hope this column is up to standards, but if it's not -- I was so busy helping others with their stories, I didn't have much time for mine.

Jennifer Reynolds is a junior journalism major from Shreveport and serves as managing editor for The Tech Talk. E-mail comments to jmr035@latech.edu.