Sitting at a coffee shop, working on homework, you run into an acquaintance and they ask you on a date. The feelings are not mutual so you stutter out an excuse as to why you can’t go.

Teachers and students at IU Southeast share the excuses they have used to avoid a date.

Lori Mundell, journalism sophomore, said that she was once on a date on St Patrick’s Day when she decided she did not like this man. She told him that her friend was drunk and that she needed to go pick her up, though she actually just walked down the road and went to McDonalds.

Sydney Powell, graphic design sophomore, said that once she declined a date by saying “I can’t hang because I am going to the movies with my brother.”

“My boyfriend wouldn’t like that,’ is the excuse I sometimes use,” Bethany Barton, fine art freshman said.

Some people know right away that there is no chemistry between their date and them.

During a first or second date each individual have red flags that they keep a look out for.

According to Cody Smothers, graphic design freshman, a red flag for him is a date that talks too much.

Jessica Stephens said that one of her red flags is a rude person, because it shows they lack respect.

“A red flag for me is when you give a girl your number and she texts you right away,” Jance Carter, biology sophomore said.

Tiffany Carbonneau, assistant professor of fine art, Donnie Roark, education junior and Barton all said that that someone bringing the conversation back to them is a red flag they avoid.

On top of looking for these red flags, there are certain elements about a person that could be a turnoff.

For Smothers, poor hygiene is a huge turnoff while Mundell finds a boring person very undesirable.

A turnoff for O’Rorke is when someone is extremely pushy even after she tells them she is not interested.

“A turnoff for me is someone who cannot have an intelligent conversation,” Carter said.

After creating a false reason to not attend the date, some humans would feel guilty, but not Powell and Mundell. These two women believe that in the long run it is for the best.

Barton does not feel guilty giving people excuses unless it is to her boyfriend.

Some, like O’Rorke, feel guilty even if the person deserves being let down by an excuse.

Some people have experienced being the person who gives an excuse and the one who has received an excuse.

Mundell said a man once told her that his aunt passed away and he had to attend the funeral. The kicker was that the same day he posted pictures of him at a concert on his facebook. To make matters even worse, it was Mundell’s birthday.

Dates are suppose to be fun and enjoyable, but not to the man Powell knew.  He told her that he didn’t like dates and that he would rather stay home.

“Who doesn’t like going on dates,” Powell said.

Clark and Rebecca Lawson, nursing junior, both said the worse excuse given to them was someone saying they had other plans.

Why do people make excuses instead of telling the truth?

“I think it’s because they don’t want to make the person feel bad,” Carbonnea said.

Carter has a different view; he said that by telling the truth it could ruin his chance later.

“People make excuses because nobody can make up their mind,” said Roark.

O’Rorke said that people give excuses when the person is not their type.

So when red flags and turn-offs occur during a date, know that if you tell them an excuse to end the date early like Mundell, you are not alone.