Most Unusual Excuses to Take a Sick Day

By: Kimberly Weisul

The sick day. Amid lousy or non-existent raises, layoffs, and too much work, it's the last refuge of the salaried employee. Feel bad enough, and you can call in sick and still get paid. Pretty good.

Of course, it's not so good if you're poor health, as you'll run through your sick days pretty fast. But there must be quite a few excess sick days out there: CareerBuilder, in a survey of 2,600 managers and 4,500 employers, found that 29% of employees admitted to calling sick when actually, they were feeling fine. Employers are on to them:

Fifteen percent of employers have fired an employee for calling in sick when they weren't
Twenty-eight percent of employers said they've checked up on an employee who they suspected wasn't really sick.

How did employers check up on their maybe-not-so-sick workers?

Sixty-nine percent required a doctor's note
Fifty-two percent called the employee at home when they were supposed to be recuperating
Nineteen percent had another employee call the 'sick' employee
Sixteen percent drove by the employee's home

CareerBuilder also asked HR managers to cite the strangest "I'm sick" excuses they've ever heard. Given the high number of people who call in sick when they're not, some of these are bound to be fibs. Others are just odd. I'm sure it's alarming to have bats get in your hair, as one employee claimed, but once they're gone, and you've washed your hair, why couldn't you come to work? As for most of the other excuses, like the employee whose kid stuck a mint up his nose, necessitating a trip to the emergency room, well, it wouldn't surprise me at all if that one were true.

Strangest "I'm sick" excuses:

Employee's 12 year-old daughter stole his car, leaving him with no way to get to work.
Employee said bats got in her hair.
Employee said a refrigerator fell on him.
A truck carrying flour backed up into an employee's convertible and dumped flour into it.
Employee said a deer bit him during hunting season.
Employee said he ate too much at a party.
Employee said he fell out of bed and broke his nose.
Employee said he got a cold from a puppy.
Employees child stuck a mint up his nose, so the parent had to accompany the child to the emergency room to get it removed.
Employee hurt his back chasing a beaver.
Employee got his toe caught in a vent cover.
Employee had a headache brought on by too many garage sales.
Employee's brother-in-law was kidnapped while in Mexico.
Employee drank anti-freeze by mistake and had to go to the hospital.
Employee was at a bowling alley when a bucket of water crashed through the ceiling and hit her on the head.

What's the strangest "I'm sick" excuse you've heard?

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Image courtesy flickr user www.courtneycarmody.com
Kimberly Weisul is a freelance writer, editor and editorial consultant. Follow her on twitter at www.twitter.com/weisul.

Kimberly Weisul
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Kimberly Weisul is the co-founder of One Thing New, the free email newsletter for smart, busy women. She was previously Senior Editor at BusinessWeek, responsible for all coverage of entrepreneurship and for launching BusinessWeek SmallBiz, a bimonthly magazine. She is also a freelance writer, editor and editorial consultant.
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