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Excuses for not coming to work
Life in Workforce Management
Excuses for not coming to work
Share your stories of workforce-management success in contributing to your business' bottom line, as well as your tales of business bloopers and blunders.
I am interested in hearing funny or strange excuses that employees have used as the reason for not coming to work. For example, I was told recently that "I was in jail" and another said "my cat defic
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Forums » Topic Forums » Life in Workforce Management » Excuses for not coming to work
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Excuses for not coming to work
posted at 10/18/2004 2:13 PM EDT
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Posts: 13
First: 9/28/2004 Last: 12/4/2007 |
I worked in a commercial art studio where talent was compensation for sometimes eccentric behavior. Otto, not shy of the bottle, called in and told our receptionist that he "would be in late this morning". After being advised that it was three o'clock in the afternoon he promised to be in early the next morning. |
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Excuses for not coming to work
posted at 10/29/2004 10:03 AM EDT
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Posts: 37
First: 6/1/2001 Last: 5/4/2009 |
Just read these, and had a great laugh. I had an employee who was a hard and dedicated worker, but occasionally, when the weather was nice, and she needed some time off, she would call in "beach". (I live in the San Francisco area.) |
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Excuses for not coming to work
posted at 11/23/2004 6:27 AM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 11/23/2004 Last: 11/23/2004 |
I once had an employee who failed to show for a number of days. When he finally surfaced, his excuse was that he had been hit by a helicopter (yes, a helicopter)! He said was hospitalized and they wouldn't allow him to make any phone calls.
If that wasn't enough, he claimed that when he was finally released, he returned to his apartment during an apparent robbery and was held at gunpoint for days before being released. He said he was lucky to be alive and was glad he was back at work! We laughed for years about this one!! |
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Excuses for not coming to work
posted at 1/7/2005 2:55 AM EST
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Posts: 60
First: 12/12/2003 Last: 2/5/2008 |
My personal favorites included: Calling off to go deer hunting. Even though he was on workers' comp at the time, his doctor said he could sit in a deer stand. I always wondered what would happen if he actually shot a deer.
And oh yes, straight out of the movies - my dog ate the car keys and I am waiting on him to do his thing so I can get them back. Another humorous one was that they were on their way to work and got stuck behind a hay wagon. When going around a curver the hay fell off and onto their car. They didn't know when they would be in. (True - verified with local sheriff.) Just goes to prove that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. |
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Excuses for not coming to work
posted at 1/19/2005 1:50 AM EST
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Posts: 206
First: 11/21/2001 Last: 11/30/2006 |
Here's something I found on SHRM's website:
SHRM Home 1/12/05 1:30 PM Escaped ostriches, prison stay among excuses for missing work By Kathy Gurchiek Forget about the kid who tells the teacher his dog ate his homework. The excuses employees use for not showing up or for coming in late can be much more creative. Like the guy with the artificial eye who called to explain that he wouldnt be in because he misplaced his eye after his cat knocked it off the bedside table and started playing with it. Or the postcard with a correctional institutions return address and the message, I will not be at work next week because Im in prison. Or the moose that stood in a womans driveway munching leaves from trees and bushes and blocking her exit for about an hour. Moose can be very temperamental and have been known to kick cars (and people), she told the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) on its online bulletin board. Calling in with a manufactured cough and a fake, throaty Im not feeling well can seem rather dull compared to some excuses employers hear. Sometimes there is a case where crazy things do happen, said Jennifer Sullivan, spokesperson for CareerBuilder.com, which commissioned a nationwide survey of 1,600 people and found that more than one-third of U.S. workers called in sick at least once last year when they felt well. The Out of the Office survey conducted in August 2004 included responses from 700 managers and found that 20 percent of workers surveyed called in sick because they didnt feel like going into the office that day. Attending to personal errands and appointments, catching up on sleep and relaxing are the top three justifications given for providing a bogus reason, according to CareerBuilder.com. Among the most unusual excuses that have been heard are: My bus broke down and was held up by robbers. I was arrested as a result of mistaken identity. I hurt myself bowling. My curlers burned my hair and I had to go to the hairdresser. I eloped. My cat unplugged my alarm clock. I forgot to come back to work after lunch. I totaled my wifes Jeep in a collision with a cow. I had to be there for my husbands grand jury trial. A hit man was looking for me. Outrageous and odd things do happen sometimes. Like the receptionist for the chiropractor in Virginia who called her boss to explain she wouldnt be in that dayher boyfriends ostriches had escaped from their pen and she was helping him chase them. She called back the next dayshe needed another day off because she was sick. A few ostriches had been hit and killed by motorists and, after eating the ostrich meat, she became ill. And there was the employee who couldnt get to work because her car was pointed the wrong way. She explained that the reverse gear on her car didnt work. Each night her husband pushed her car into the driveway and pointed it toward the street so she could drive out in the morning. One night they had a fight and her husband refused to turn the car around for her. Wardrobe malfunctions also come into play. One person on the SHRM bulletin board had an employee who called in because he couldnt get his pants on. That was his full explanation, and because he is not a frequent offender, I didnt ask for further details when he returned the next day, wearing pants. Wild-sounding excusesthe person cant get his or her shoes onsometimes have reasonable explanations. Im in Florida and people call to say they cant put their shoes/shirt/pants on because they sun-burned the tops of their feet, explained another person on SHRMs bulletin board. Supervisors will cut an employee some slack if he or she is dependable and has a good work record, Sullivan noted. It really just depended on the relationship they had with that particular employee, she said. If its somebody that doesnt typically call in sick and they come in and say, I tripped over my dog and was knocked unconscious, the employer will be more understanding. However, a pattern of not reporting for work can be a symptom of job dissatisfaction, she said, pointing to another CareerBuilder.com surveythe 2005 Employment Forecastthat found that 48 percent of 2,500 workers surveyed said they did not look forward to going to work each day. I had a co-worker who called in weekly, each time with a new excuse, someone posted on SHRMs bulletin board. One time he stated that he thought he might be pregnant. [The] manager was laughing so hard, he just let it go. While some managers were amused by the wacky excuses cited in the study, Sullivan said, others were frustrated at what they saw as a lack of employee job commitment. Using sick days for time off that has nothing to do with illness also is a reflection of the changing perception of the purpose of sick days, she said. Twenty-five percent of those we surveyed said sick days were just extra vacation days and they treated them as such, she said, adding that some people see sick days as mental health days. Youd need a mental health day, too, if a hit man was after you. Kathy Gurchiek is an associate editor at HR News. She can be reached at kgurchiek@shrm.org. |
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Excuses for not coming to work
posted at 1/19/2005 9:54 AM EST
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Posts: 35
First: 12/28/2004 Last: 7/11/2006 |
My all time favorite was from a time I was at a call center in Florida. Our receptionist called in saying she would be late. The animal control was there to remove the otter that was underneath her car. The funniest part is that her last name is Beaver - so the animal control called it in as "need back up for assistance. The otter is in the way and the Beavers can't get to work". |
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Excuses for not coming to work
posted at 5/10/2005 6:58 AM EDT
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Posts: 56
First: 3/21/2005 Last: 4/28/2009 |
I know this won't sound believable, but it really did happen.
My mom was on her way to work one dark, snowy morning. She had started her Grand Prix up to warm it up before she left when the car locked itself tight with her inside. I'm not talking about just safety locks either. The car literally locked the windows closed, the doors shut tight and the engine would not turn off. It wouldn't go into gear either. I had to call the office and try to explain that she would be late because she couldn't get out of the car! It took about 30 minutes before she could get out. We were on the verge of breaking the driver's window when it just shut down and locks released. Our mechanic couldn't eplain it and was completely dumbfounded. We didn't take any chances and traded it in! |
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