Employees have always been creative when it comes to taking time off to interview or missing work for other reasons. Some of the interview excuses that site visitors have contributed are interesting - plumbing problems, lots of dental work, burglary, car troubles, and more.
CareerBuilder's annual absentee survey reports a variety of reasons why employees are missing work, some more creative than others. Next to actually being sick, the most common reasons employees call in sick are because they just don't feel like going to work (34%), or because they felt like they needed to relax (29%).
Other employees take the day off so they can make it to a doctor's appointment (22%), sleep (16%), or run errands (15%).
Then there are the creative excuses for missing work. Maybe they aren't all fake, but they are certainly different. Here are real reasons employees gave for not being able to make it to work:
- Employee's sobriety tool wouldn't allow the car to start
- Employee forgot he had been hired for the job
- Employee said her dog was having a nervous breakdown
- Employee's dead grandmother was being exhumed for a police investigation
- Employee's toe was stuck in a faucet
- Employee said a bird bit her
- Employee was upset after watching "The Hunger Games"
- Employee got sick from reading too much
- Employee was suffering from a broken heart
- Employee's hair turned orange from dying her hair at home
Given that I have a neurotic dog, I can understand that one. I can also understand how a broken heart can make you not want to go to work. My daughter's hair actually did turn orange once, but we had a friend who was better at coloring it than I was fix it fast, so she made it to school on time the next day.
Don't think that you won't be checked up on, regardless of your excuse. 29% of employers have checked up on an employee to verify that the illness is legitimate, usually by requiring a doctor's note or calling the employee later in the day.
The obvious lesson here for job seekers is to be careful what excuses you are using to take time off and to be careful if you use fake excuses. You don't want to lose your job before you find a new one. I always suggest that job seekers try to schedule interviews early or late in the day, or at lunch time. Another alternative, if you can schedule a couple of interviews on one day, is taking a vacation day.
Here are some good excuses for missing work and if you have an excuse that will work for taking time off for an interview, add it to our collection of interview excuses.
Read More: Time Off to Interview | Absence Excuse Letters
Photo Copyright Ana Abejon