Some of my favorite quotes

“If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in character. If there be beauty in character, there will be harmony in the home. If there be harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. If there be order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.” - Confucius

“Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight.” - Helen Keller (1880-1968) American Writer

“Democracy, like liberty, justice and other social and political rights are not given. They are earned through courage, resolution and sacrifice.” - Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma

“Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'” – Anonymous



Friday, May 11, 2007

15 Excuses for Calling in Sick :)

By Richard Castellini, Senior Career Adviser for CareerBuilder.com
(http://tinyurl.com/32obnt)

When you need a random day off of work, what do you do? Do you schedule a vacation day with your boss, or call in with some overblown cover story? And just how long does it take you to come up with that excuse? With one-in-four workers considering sick days equivalent to vacation time, it's no wonder workers are so crafty at calling in sick.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CareerBuilder.com recently took a look at employees who call in sick with bogus excuses. Thirty-two percent of workers said they called in sick when they felt well at least once during the last year, down from 43 percent in the 2005 survey. This could be because some employers are evolving to a PTO (paid time off) system, which is a more flexible way for workers to take time off from work. But, workers should be mindful of company policies and their responsibilities as an employee.

The most popular motivator for missing work: good, old-fashioned R&R. Almost half of workers said they needed to relax, while 24 percent wanted to catch up on sleep. Other top reasons included running personal errands (20 percent), doctor's appointments (17 percent), plans with family and friends (16 percent) and housework (16 percent).

Some employers said they typically don't question excuses given, but others were more skeptical. Almost half of employers have caught an employee calling in sick with a fake excuse; 27 percent said they have fired a worker for calling in sick without a legitimate reason.

Forty-one percent of hiring managers said they have received unusual or suspicious sick-day alibis. When asked to share the most unusual excuses workers gave for missing work, hiring managers revealed some of their favorite alibis:

  1. Employee was poisoned by his mother-in-law.
  2. A buffalo escaped from the game reserve and kept charging the employee every time she tried to go to her car from her house.
  3. Employee was feeling all the symptoms of his expecting wife.
  4. Employee called from his cell phone, saying that he was accidentally locked in a restroom stall and that no one was around to let him out.
  5. Employee broke his leg snowboarding off his roof while drunk.
  6. Employee's wife said he couldn't come into work because he had a lot of chores to do around the house.
  7. One of the walls in the employee's home fell off the night before.
  8. Employee's mother was in jail.
  9. A skunk got into the employee's house and sprayed all of his uniforms.
  10. Employee had a bad case of hiccups.
  11. Employee blew his nose so hard, his back went out.
  12. Employee's horses got loose and were running down the highway.
  13. Employee was hit by a bus while walking.
  14. Employee's dog swallowed her bus pass.
  15. Employee was sad.

Richard Castellini is Vice President of Consumer Marketing at CareerBuilder.com. He is an expert in recruitment trends and tactics, job seeker behavior and workplace issues.

Copyright © 1996 - 2007 Experience, Inc. - All Rights Reserved

Do you have any fun excuses you've heard about (or probably given yourself :) to share?

6 comments:

olaoluwatomi said...

hi girl thanks for putting my blog on your interesting links
cant access the link how to be informed about new posts on your blog keep being posted to an unreadable page?

Andrew F. Alalade said...

Cool and funny! But Bash, hope you have not tried using any of them on your boss(es)?

Bash said...

Tomi - I think this could have something to do with your version of internet explorer. I tried it using IE6 and got the same error message (same with other browsers like Opera and Mozilla Firefox), but with IE7 it worked well.

Bash said...

Folusho - thanks, but no o :)!

Anonymous said...

The best excuse when calling in 'sick' is stating you are not feeling too well and may need to rest 'cos of the debilitating effect of the drugs you had to take - not too much details and open to future (mis)interpretation (if required)

Bash said...

hmmm... Bablo - na true you talk o... but dat turanchi take style plenty :).