The Most Ridiculous Excuses For Calling In Sick

Mischievous teenagers aren’t the only ones playing hooky. According to a new CareerBuilder survey, 30% of professional adults called in sick when they weren’t actually ill at least once this year. But instead of simply telling their managers, “I can’t make it in today because I’m not feeling well,” they offered much more colorful excuses.

One employee said he couldn’t make it to work because his toe was stuck in a faucet, and another said a bird bit her. One worker said her dog was having a nervous breakdown, while another claimed he got sick from reading too much. And those aren’t even the most preposterous on

Every time we think we’ve seen it all, the next year’s survey always brings in the unexpected,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at the jobs website CareerBuilder.

CareerBuilder does an annual survey on absenteeism, and this year the poll reached out to 3,976 workers and 2,494 employers. It found that not all sick days are spent under piles of blankets, with a thermometer and extra-strength meds. Next to actually feeling under the weather, the most common reasons employees skip work are: They just don’t feel like going (34%); they felt like they needed to relax (29%); they had a doctor’s appointment (22%); they wanted to catch up on sleep (16%); or they had errands to do (15%).

The survey also asked hiring managers and HR personnel to report the most outlandish excuses they heard from employees this year, and a panel sifted through the 2,000 submissions to find the 10 most unusual ones.

For instance, one employee claimed he couldn’t make it to work because he forgot he had been hired for the job. Another worker said she’d be out for the day because her dead grandmother was being exhumed for a police investigation. These may or may not be true—but either way, excuses like these are almost guaranteed to raise suspicion.

“It’s better to be honest.  Keep it short and simple, and only provide the information that is needed,” Haefner says. “If you’re caught lying, it can have more serious consequences and can bring your professionalism and reliability into question.”

It turns out 29% of employers have checked up on an employee by requiring a doctor’s note or calling the employee later in the day. Some have had other employees call a suspected fibber (18%) or had them drive by the ‘sick’ employee’s home (14%).

“As an employer, you don’t want to pry into the employee’s personal life, but in some cases you may need more explanation as to why he or she can’t be at work that day,” Haefner says. “If you are taking measures to try to catch an employee, then there clearly is a bigger trust issue at hand.  If you don’t trust your employees, it can be difficult to establish a productive and mutually supportive work environment.”

So beware: Just because you’ve come up with a creative excuse doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. No fewer than 17% of employers say they’ve fired a worker for giving a phony excuse.

-Referrence: Forbes.com