By Alan Graner
Recently CareerBuilders published its latest nationwide survey on outrageous excuses employees used for being late.
The report, conducted by Harris Interactive© between November 9 and December 5, 2011, surveyed 7,000 U.S. employees and 3,000 employers from a multitude of industries and company sizes.
Not surprisingly, the four most common reasons for being late to work will shock nobody:
- Traffic: 31% of workers
- Lack of sleep: 18%
- Bad weather: 11 %
- Take kids to school/daycare: 8%
Outrageous reasons for being tardy
But CareerBuilders is not interested in “business as usual.” Once again they asked hiring managers for the most outrageous excuses employees use. This is what they shared:
- Employee’s cat had the hiccups.
- Employee thought she had won the lottery (she didn’t).
- Employee got distracted watching the TODAY Show.
- Employee’s angry roommate cut the cord to his phone charger, so it didn’t charge and his alarm didn’t go off.
- Employee believed his commute time should count toward his work hours.
- Employee claimed a fox stole her car keys.
- Employee’s leg was trapped between the subway car and the platform (turned out to be true).
- Employee said he wasn’t late because he had no intention of getting to work before 9:00 a.m. (his start time was 8:00 a.m.)
- Employee was late because of a job interview with another firm.
- Employee had to take a personal call from the state governor (turned out to be true).
Excuses from past surveys included:
- A chicken attacked my mom.
- My finger was stuck in a bowling ball.
- My hair transplant went bad.
- I fell asleep at my desk while working and hit my head, causing a neck injury.
- A cow broke into my house and I had to wait for the insurance man.
- My foot was caught in the garbage disposal.
- I called in sick from a bar at 5:00 p.m. the night before.
- I wasn’t feeling too clever that day.
- I had to mow the lawn to avoid a lawsuit from the home owner’s association
- I called (the day after Thanksgiving) because I burned my mouth on a pumpkin pie.
- I was in a boat on Lake Erie and ran out of gas and the coast guard towed me to the Canadian side.
- I got sunburned at a nude beach and can’t wear clothes.
- I got caught selling an alligator.
- My buddies locked me in the trunk of an abandoned car after a weekend of drinking.
- My mom said I was not allowed to go to work today.
- A bee flew in my mouth.
- I’m just not into it today.
- I accidentally hit a nun with my motorcycle.
- A random person threw poison ivy in my face and now I have a rash.
- I’m convinced my spouse is having an affair and I’m staying home to catch them.
- I was injured chasing a seagull.
- I have a headache from eating hot peppers.
Now if you’re late for work tomorrow, you don’t have an excuse for not having an excuse.
What’s the most outrageous excuse you’ve ever heard (or used) ?
Image: Pauline Eccles
Alan Graner is Chief Creative Officer at Daly-Swartz Public Relations, an Orange County, CA marketing communications firm. For an effective PR campaign that’s on time, on target and on budget, email Jeffrey Swartz at jeffreyswartz@dsprel.com.
