The Most Unbelievable Excuses for Calling In Sick
When asked to share the most dubious excuses employees have given for calling in sick, employers reported hearing the following real-life examples:
- Employee just put a casserole in the oven.
- Employee’s plastic surgery for enhancement purposes needed some "tweaking" to get it just right.
- Employee was sitting in the bathroom and her feet and legs fell asleep. When she stood, up she fell and broke her ankle.
- Employee had been at the casino all weekend and still had money left to play with on Monday morning.
- Employee woke up in a good mood and didn't want to ruin it.
- Employee had a “lucky night” and didn’t know where he was.
- Employee got stuck in the blood pressure machine at the grocery store and couldn't get out.
- Employee had a gall stone they wanted to heal holistically.
- Employee caught their uniform on fire by putting it in the microwave to dry.
- Employee accidentally got on a plane.
Though the majority of employers give their employees the benefit of the doubt, 31 percent say they have checked to see if an employee was telling the truth in one way or another. Among employers who have checked up on an employee who called in sick, asking to see a doctor’s note was the most popular way to find out if the absence was legit (66 percent), followed by calling the employee (49 percent). As many as 15 percent of employers went the extra mile (quite literally) and drove past the employee’s house.
Nearly 1 in 5 employers (18 percent) say they have fired an employee for calling in sick with a fake excuse.
Tweet Revenge
Some workers have inadvertently busted themselves online. One in four employers (24 percent) have caught an employee lying about being sick by checking social media. Of those, 22 percent have actually fired the employee, but 54 percent were more forgiving, only reprimanding the employee for the lie. Read the rest here
First of all, #6 seems like a totally legit excuse. Who hasn't woken up in some strangers bed with no idea where you are geographically. #4 also seems like a valid reason, can't break that hot streak!
The real story here though is the effort employers go through to catch fakers. Driving past the employee's house? That's like psycho ex-girlfriend behavior. And who are the idiots getting caught on social media? If you call in sick it's probably not a good idea to go on facebook and brag about it. If you're calling in sick to go do something, maybe don't upload the pictures to instagram until the weekend.
