As a former regional sales manager my boss would look to me for explanations for my territory's weekly sales performance.

As an experienced manager, my philosophy was to take credit when sales were good and find blame when they weren't.

Gee boss, the numbers were horrid last week. It was because (choose one of the following)

1. There was construction outside the store
2. The weather was really bad/The weather was really good (both are effective)
3. the local sports team was in town and people weren't in a shopping mood
4. The competition had a better offer

Now, I wouldn't do that all the time, but sometimes there just isn't a reason for sales being down and so you try and force a reason to fit the situation.

I just read an interesting take on the reason that the viewers aren't tuning into American Idol this year; early Daylight Savings time.

Hmmm. The writer had this to say "Are people really that affected by sunlight, abandoning their televisions and running outside to frolic in the twilight at 8 p.m.? Or does the fact that three-quarters of the top 12 contestants suck perhaps have something to do with it?"

Check out the article.