The Craziest Employee Excuses for Calling in Sick

Well, it’s that time of year again! Your cube-mate is sniffling, your boss is coughing and the whole office is loading up on hand sanitizer. While you can try your hardest to ward off the office head cold, we all succumb to it sooner or later. And when you called your boss to let them know you wouldn’t be in, they most likely understood and said get well.

The common cold may not come as a surprise to many managers…but what about someone experiencing garage sale fatigue or hurting your back chasing a beaver? Believe it or not these are actual excuses people have used to call in sick to work. According to CareerBuilder’s annual survey, 29% of workers admit that they played hooky at one time or another in the past year. Check out some of the craziest excuses managers have heard from their employees:

1. Employee’s 12-year-old daughter stole his car and he had no other way to work
2.Employee said bats got in her hair
3. Employee said refrigerator fell on him
4. Employee was in line at a coffee shop when a flour truck backed up and dumped flour into her convertible
5. Employee was bit by a deer during hunting season
6. Employee ate too much at a party
7. Employee fell out of bed and broke his nose
8. Employee got a cold from a puppy
9. Employee’s child stuck a mint up his nose and had to go to the ER to remove it.
10. Employee hurt his back chasing a beaver
11. Employee got his toe caught in a vent cover
12. Employee had a headache after going to too many garage sales
13. Employee’s brother-in-law was kidnapped by a drug cartel while in Mexico
14. Employee drank anti-freeze by mistake and had to go to the hospital
15. Employee was at a bowling alley and a bucket filled with water crashed through the ceiling and hit her head

Crazy, huh? Additionally, according to Careerbuilder, more workers call in sick in the first quarter of the year, with 24% of employers saying workers calling in between January and March. Also, phone calls are still the most dominant way for people to tell their bosses they won’t be coming in. What’s the craziest excuse you’ve ever heard?

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