Airtable - Building the Excuse Tracker

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Last time in Airtable, I learned about field types and views while stocking a zombie bunker. This next project will introduce me to long text, ratings and data buckets. Let's dive into the Excuse Tracker!

Excuse Tracker The Excuse Tracker

Writing an apology letter

A simple spreadsheet isn't enough for a high-quality excuse. You can't just write "Flat tire" and expect sympathy. You need to tell a good story, maybe add some drama!

Fortunately, Airtable has a Long Text field, which as its name suggests, holds entire paragraphs. Better yet, there's a tiny toggle for "Rich text formatting" so I could add emphasis to the most brazen lies!

The excuses

I asked Gemini to whip up some creative excuses for the database, and I must say, they gave me a laugh:

  • The Flat Tire
    • "It wasn't just a puncture. I hit a pothole the size of a small onsen. By the time I jacked up the car, it started raining sideways. I am currently 40% mud and 60% rage. I need 20 minutes to hose myself down."
  • The Alien Abduction
    • "07:00: Pouring coffee. 07:01: Bright Blue Light. 08:45: Woke up in a rice paddy with a headache and a new implant behind my left ear. My Fitbit says I walked 5,000 steps vertically. I need the morning to scan for tracking devices."
  • The Alarm Clock Failure
    • "My phone did a mandatory OS update while I slept. It apparently decided that 'Silent Mode' was the new default for emergency alarms. I woke up naturally... three hours late. I am currently negotiating a truce with Siri."
  • The Dog Ate It
    • "He didn't eat my homework. He ate the actual 5G Router. I have no internet, a very guilty-looking dog, and a vet bill that costs more than my car. I am currently tethering from a weak 3G signal in the garden."

The ratings

Not all lies are created equal, and while the "Alien Abduction" story is fun, it isn't likely to pass a polygraph test.

See more: 10 Easy-Peasy Airtable Experiments

We need a Rating field. Airtable lets you choose an icon (star, thumbs, etc.) so you can rate each excuse out of 5. I made a new column called "Believability" and add the rating field with bright yellow stars.

Scoring the excuses

  • The Alien Abduction? A risky 1 star. You really need photo evidence for that one.
  • The Alarm Clock Failure? A believable 3 stars, but you should have gone to bed earlier.
  • The Flat Tire? A solid 4 stars. It's a classic and hard to disprove.
  • The Dog ate the Router? A perfect 5 stars. Specific technical details always sound true!

The groupings

The final touch for this database of deception was to sort the excuses by rating. Airtable has a Group by button, which with one click, let me group by Believability.

This is very handy! You can instantly sort data into "buckets". My 1-star excuse wa tucked away at the bottom, and my 5-star "Dog ate the router" excuse jumped right to the top, ready for me to use if I skip a day of Airtable practice!

The verdict

In under 15 minutes, I learned how to handle large blocks of formatted text, create visual scoring systems, and organize data into useful buckets. I also picked up some great excuses!