Most Unusual Excuses to Take a Sick Day

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.

• 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

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.

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