The other day, someone did something I didn't expect. It was something many people have done before; something that I thought of as very normal, but that I in no way understood and had not predicted.
As I said, this had happened many time before, so I wrote it off as "me not understanding people" or "people are weird" for a second, like I usually do, before realizing that "bad at" really means "lacking basic knowledge", which I had never realized before.
And then I thought "I should ask someone who is different from me why people do that, and eventually someone will have an answer."
But many people will have many more questions like this. So, what have you observed people doing time and time again, but never understood? Or something that you only understood after a long time or asking someone about it?
And can Less Wrong tell us, not necessarily why (I for one can make up evolutionary psychology fairy tales all day if I want) but what conscious thought process occurs behind these events?
Agreed about the recovering alcoholism excuse; I've occasionally implied that to good effect.
Medical reasons is complicated; I've had this both succeed and fail depending on particulars.
That said, I generally find "No thanks, I'm good" works pretty well.
I've heard this excuse suggested before on LW, and it still sits wrong with me. I'd expect it to be fairly disadvantageous to be thought a recovering alcoholic in many situations.