While lying is never good, sometimes you dread a date so bad that you'll do anything to get out of it. The only thing is that you don't want to be blunt and hurt their feelings. Therefore, the best approach is to get out of it immediately and then deal with it later. That means you hope they never ask you out again; or they eventually get the idea.  Either way, desperate times call for desperate measures. These are the 5 most polite ways to get out of a date that still allows them to claim some self-respect.

1.  Illness

"I'm sick and it just suddenly came on." Another classic is "I wasn't feeling very well earlier but I kept hoping I would get better by tonight." "Can you hear how scratchy my voice is?" Or "my head is just pounding out of control with a migraine and it will only get better if I go to bed earlier." Then end by saying "I'm really sorry but we're going to have to do it some other time."  Then maybe the some other time won't work out.

2. Family Emergency

Another classic excuse that I myself have used a couple of times in order to get out of either a first or a repeat horrible date is by claiming there's a "family emergency." This is a great one because you can use it before the date comes to pick you up.  Or you can use it during the date by making sure that you have someone call you during your date so that you can answer it and make it look real. That way you can exit if you must but still allow them some dignity. Plus, they probably won't ask you what happened because it's a personal problem that you don't want to share.  However, be prepared with a reason that's believable and difficult for them to verify.

3. Work Late

Thousands of men and women use the “I have to work late” excuse every year but it works. This is a great excuse because if you have a job like mine it's very believable. Or you can explain that someone was ill and left work immediately so you have to cover them. Depending on what your job is, pick an excuse that fits your job. But this can also backfire so be careful. If you work at a place where they can drop by and you aren't there when they drop by: Watch out or you're S.O.L. Because if the date ends up bringing you dinner to the office and you're not there, you are going to look stupid and feel like a jerk. Not to mention how the date will feel.

4. Rain Check

Just flat out say" something came up and I need to take a rain check."  This is less detailed which allows you more flexibility than the other excuses. They can't really track or verify that something went wrong so this is a pretty safe bet. Unless you run into the person later that night, then you played it safe because you never said exactly what reason you had to cancel the date. Just that you needed a raincheck for a later date.  And if you so desire, never again.

5. Double Booked

One other tactic that you can try is to say that you didn't realize you "already had something going on." Just make sure to mention you planned the other activity first and you can't get out of it. This can work wonders because even though you may not want to go out with this person and may just want to say to their face your ugly and I don't like you.  Remember how you handle the situation may influence whether a guy or girl asks you out.

If you didn't want to go but got sucked into a date, don't worry these excuses can help get you out of it. While lying isn't good, it can get you out of a sticky situation like this. Sometimes it is justified, particularly if you're asking married individuals. These 5 excuses will give you the ability to get out of the date, and push off the inevitable fact at least temporarily that you don't want to say "I'm not interested."

Tags: avoid dates, bad date, canceling dates, excuses for dates, getting out dates

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Career Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.