OT Some Useless or Old Sayings Poor Excuses

John B. · Jan 20, 2014

One of the worst excuses I have often heard over the years is.

It's been this way for all these years
or
We've always done it this way.

I think these two or the poorest excuses for an answer or explanation when some one comes up with a new idea.

To me these two excuses are saying;

'There's a change coming and we don't want to change"

LAA · Jan 20, 2014

One of those two is usually spoken right after someone screws up big time or some moron gets hurt.

Dick2 · Jan 20, 2014

When some people attempt to offere some excuse, I usually tell them: "One excuse is as good as another".

1970-1655 · Jan 20, 2014

People have always said about a man I know- "that's just the way he is." Right or wrong, he was always the same.
Then one day, he started really listening to what people were saying about him. As he made a lot of changes in his life, people noticed and wondered what made him want to change. I can say he has been a close friend for over 40 years.

Hay hay hay · Jan 20, 2014

I took a long time for me to realize how hard most people resist change.

You can explain the need for change, point out the advantages, explain the dire consequences of not changing...etc etc etc.

Funny thing is the people will rationally agree, but then as if they are contolled by some odd force, they will stay in the old mode.

Best example I can think of is Sears, K-Mart and Walmart. Sears was the retail leader 50 years ago and had the money and management to be a big box giant, but they refused and K-mart passed them. Then K-Mart got stuck in a blue-light rut, and Wal-mart put them into bankruptcy. Walmart did not do anything that Sears or Kmart could not have done, except for the resistence to change.

People that lead change are few and far between, and usually not the leader in the field.
Most people do not make change...it happens to them.

ericlb · Jan 20, 2014

change is often required, it may be good once in awhile, depending on what is being changed and why

DonNOhio · Jan 20, 2014

"If we do as we have always done. We will get what we have always got." Source unknown.
This is true no matter if it is good or bad.

rrlund · Jan 20, 2014

"Yea,and before Columbus they thought the world was flat".

rabbit-1 · Jan 20, 2014

On the other hand, it may well be that other methods have been tried and came up short.... It"s done that way because it is the most practical. Experience is often a very good teacher.

farmerwithmutt · Jan 20, 2014

i had the first round baler in this area there were a number of reasons that couldnt work.
i was also the first to plant cover crops in the fall rotational grazing the list goes on and the funny thing is the guys that argue the most that it cant work in a few years come up with this new amazing idea.
the one i regret the most i was the first one to make a mounted spear for a skid loader if i had only patented that

Wayne Hendersen · Jan 20, 2014

It"s important that we change even if it makes no sense or there is no need for it. Someone said "change is good" so that"s all the reason we need.

If there"s anything that we"ve learned froom the last six years it is that mouthing the simple slogan "change" is all the common man needs as a substitute for a reason to pile over the cliff with the rest of the lemmings. What more does a person need?

oldtanker · Jan 20, 2014

Kinda funny but in the late 80's I was wondering if I needed to get a computer so the kids could learn because I kinda knew they were going to be part of our future. I was trying to pick which OS to go with, Apple, MS or Commodore. I was an Armor tactics instructor at the time and one day at work we had a message to put some info out to the young officers. That message was "if you do not know how to run an MS based system and cannot learn you will not be able to make a career of the Army". So my decision was made and my wife and I bought a computer within a week. I said I wasn't touching that darn thing. Then one of the kids did something and it wouldn't boot. I took it back to where I got it from, guy plugs it in, hit a half dozen keys an presto it works. I started learning about computers that day. A year later in an NCO school we had to take all of our written test on a computer. Several guys flunked out just because they were intimidated by them. Sometimes you just can't fight change.

Rick

Bruce from Can. · Jan 20, 2014

To the early innovator goes the gain. Or loss. We always like to talk about the guy that embraces a new idea, or technological advancement, and praise him for his foresight.But what about the times when that guy bets on a new idea or concept and it fails, or don't live up to the hype. Then this perceived hero becomes a fool, who should have suck with the tried and true. I say "to each his own". And this is my favourite saying.

rrlund · Jan 20, 2014

Reminds me of something that happened when I was president of the dairy co-op local. I was on the State Resolutions Committee too. There was about a three and a half month "meeting season" from the local meetings until the state annual meeting. At the first meeting we were told that the general manager had made a big blunder that caused him to stumble in to making a bunch of money for the co-op. We were told that he had just plain forgotten to sell a bunch of powder that the co-op owned. By the time he found out we had it,the price had gone sky high and he made a whole bunch of profit by selling it as late as he did.
By the time of the state annual meeting the guy who introduced him was all smiles,hailing him as some kind of genius who had the foresight to hold on to it like he knew he could make big money.

Larry NEIL · Jan 20, 2014

A person who is good at making excuses, is seldom good for anything else!

8N'r--WI · Jan 20, 2014

"There"s a change coming and we don"t want to change" ....

25 years ago I heard the following....

"Change is constant, and the only constant is change"

Very true! Change of certain things may not be for everyone, but they are going to change regardless if one does or doesn"t change along with it.

NYCamper62 · Jan 20, 2014

"I've never had any trouble with software before.."

As the user hasn't ever run disk clean up, hasn't updated their a/v since 2012, and their malwarebytes is 450+ days old.

tiresntracks · Jan 20, 2014

"There's a change coming and we don't want to change"

Its not always a good thing to change. Sometimes change is not for the better. I would say that change is usually for the better, but not always. Don't change just for the sake of changing.
Saying "I'm going to do it this way because that's how I've always done it" is not a good reason. Saying " I'm going to keep doing it this way, because it works as well or better than the new way" is fine.

rvirgil_KS · Jan 20, 2014

Change is certain....except from a vending machine

Spook · Jan 20, 2014

I see around this area a lot of commercial property vacant, some of it 5 or 6 years old, that has never had a tenant. Folks are shopping online now, not so much at brick and mortar stores. The nearest big mall has JC Penny and Sears as 2 of the anchor tenants. When they pull out, I think the mall will go bust. They already have a lot of vacant smaller stores. I see this all over, there are changes that few predicted coming to pass.

John B. · Jan 20, 2014

Great story Rick.
Thanks for sharing!

Dick · Jan 20, 2014

Change in most cases, costs money.
The question is: Do the changes you made make any more money or do those changes actually end up costing you more in the long run? In other words, was the change worth the investment?

Something to think about.

Dick

GeneMO · Jan 20, 2014

"That's the way I have always done it"

So I came out of college with a degree in Animal Science and thought I knew it all. Yeah I had some decent ideas that worked and my dad adapted.

But there were also lots of times when he let me make my mistakes, then showed me how to do something that "He had always done it this way" and his way turned out to be best.

No need to reinvent the wheel!! There are just no hard and fast rules that are 100%. All depends on the occasion and circumstance.

Gene

Royse · Jan 20, 2014

If good enough were good enough, we'd still be plowing with horses.

Two Dogs · Jan 20, 2014

Change is good, if it is changed back to the way it was.

TDF

Mark - IN. · Jan 20, 2014

Not useless, old saying, or poor excuses. I had a football coach motion me over to the sideline after I missed a block on a blitzing line backer that beheaded our quarterback. Took his helmet off was so bad.

As an offensive tackle, we ran a play that called for me to cut and take someone out, but after the ball was hiked, I made my cut and went after my guy that wasn't there, not picking up the blitzing line backer that pretty much murderized our quarterback.

I trotted over to the sideline and stood right in front of my coach that stood there with his arms crossed, never said a word as I pleaded my case. When I was finsished, he simply asked "Are you finsished" and I said that I was. With that, he simply said "Excuses don't get the job done, never have, never will" and then he benched me for the rest of the game.

For as long as I live, I will never ever forget those words and try to live up to them.

"Excuses don't get the job done, never have, never will"

Mark

Jim Naden · Jan 20, 2014

"Progress requires change, but not all change is progress"
John Wooden

Jim CIn. · Jan 20, 2014

In 1939 my dad was a young farmer who went to the local IH dealer to trade for a newer implement, he was going to have to borrow the difference. The dealer(owner) asked him if he could still get along with the old one and if he traded, would it make him more money? He said it wouldn't make him more money, the dealer said "don't trade then" Would this happen today?

Larry62 · Jan 20, 2014

I tried to call you several times today. That I could not get there to help you!..."Thats funny for I have an answering Meach amd I was home all day!" Heard this many mant times.

ShadetreeRet · Jan 20, 2014

Sometimes a change can be a good thing, It stops the baby from crying.
When I went to work in the parts dept of a dealership, the parts manager had been there since sometime in the 50s when all tickets were handwritten. I was told that when they installed a computer and printer system that he resisted the change and kept writing tickets by had until the owner threatened to fire him if he didn't learn the new system.

Dave F. · Jan 21, 2014

When I was 18 yrs. old & started my first real full time job at WVU. I saw this poster which had a futurestic (sp) scene which had these words The only thing Unchangeable is Change. I wish I could find that poster today Dave F.

jon f mn · Jan 21, 2014

Worked for a fella once who's favorite saying was "patients is a virtue". Of course he went out of business soon after because he never got anything done on time.

OT Some Useless or Old Sayings Poor Excuses

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