I don’t know if technology has made it easier to turn down an invitation.
Yes, you can now attribute your absence to a missed e-mail. You can avoid previously unavoidable awkwardness with an impersonal text message.
But technology’s benefits come at a time when we’ve become more skeptical of the declined invitations we receive.
Many hosts and hostesses have grown so accustomed to last-minute lies that they regard every "I can't be there" as a phony excuse -- even when that’s not true.
When a guest declines your invitation, do you accept his/her explanation at face value, or are you immediately cynical?
What's the worst way to turn down an invitation?
