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Once took my glasses off and put them down somewhere in my apartment that I didn't normally keep them. Then couldn't find my glasses because I couldn't see well enough to find them. Had to call out of work, and that evening had to have my boyfriend come over and find them for me (on top of my roommate's stereo speaker!)
Another time I was having such bad PMS, had become so bloated, that I literally could not squeeze into a single pair of shoes! Nothing I owned would stretch enough to let me get my feet in them!
There's been a three or four times in the past 4 years that I've gotten to the office to realize I had left my laptop at home, and had to turn around to get it.
Had a weekend off and made plans to go out of town. I was sooo excited and I told everyone about my big plans. Turns out I was looking at the wrong schedule and the other mgr had to pull a double to cover my shift. I felt so stupid, and couldn't apologize enough when I got back.
There was also the time the mgr rewrote the schedule while I was gone and gave me a shift that I knew nothing about. I got a nasty call asking where I was and why I hadn't checked my schedule. Ummmm I'm on an already approved vacation through the end of the week. Not my fault you scheduled me to work during that time. Never even got an apology for that.
A coworker had to stay home because her mother's cat died and the family was grieving.
I'm not a pet person, so this seemed over-the-top to me. It wasn't even my coworker's cat.
I thought that too. When someone in my office took a week off when a beloved dog died, I thought that it was a bit over the top. Then the love of my dog life (my first and best dog) died of a brain tumor, and I was totally beside myself.
OK - in this thread I'd like to know what the worst excuses you ever heard or have used for being late or taking time off from your job - that were VALID. Even YOU cannot believe those excuses - but they were absolutely real! What's yours?
These were real, they happened in 1988, within the first month on a new government job in a new organization, and my pay was docked both times (they would not allow me to make up this time). Oh, and I was treated like a deadbeat from that point on. This is way before cell phones.
The first incident was that a water main broke on the street leading up to the installation. I was about a half hour late.
After this, I decided to go on the major highway instead, so after the turnoff to this installation, I went under a railoroad underpass, when I heard a loud boom, and the window shattered on the driver's side, into a million pieces in my lap. I had to take the car to the dealer to be repaired. Fortunately, there was a dealer for my type of car out the back gate of the installation. It was not until decades later, did I find out that persons were shooting bb guns at that location, at passing cars.
BTW -I guess that this idiot (or his relatives) is still out there ...same location, too
I've been late to work three times in the past 18 months. One time was 25 minutes, another was 90 minutes and the longest was just over two hours. I haven't called in sick at any point during this period and my boss has made it clear that these incidents don't reflect poorly on me or my performance. Being on time to work, for appointments or anything else is very important to me. I usually arrive at work at least 20 minutes early.
The three situations were (and you can decide if they're BAD reasons or not)-
1- Road construction- I live about 45 minutes away from work. Half of my drive is on a two-lane highway and they had one lane closed for almost a mile. I was 25 minutes late this time. There was no way I could have known about the road work and I left home with 15-20 minutes of extra time to spare....
2- The 90-minute delay was because of a "wardrobe malfunction". I stopped at Starbuck's down the street from my office and the drive-thru was slammed. I decided to go inside and as I got out of my car, the seam in my pants ripped wide open (making them crotchless, essentially)! I couldn't go into a local store and buy a new pair in that condition. So I drove 45 minutes back home, changed and drove back to work. My boss laughed her @ss off about it!
3- Power outage- I live on the extreme outskirts of the northern Atlanta suburbs. Two more miles north or east and I'd be in different counties and out of the 'metro' area. Out here in the country, we have well water. If the power goes out, so does the water because the well pump has no power. The power went out during the early hours of the morning and I didn't realize until I woke up (to my cell phone alarm). I had to drive to my parents' house, more than 30 minutes away in the opposite direction from work, to take a shower and get dressed.
I thought that too. When someone in my office took a week off when a beloved dog died, I thought that it was a bit over the top. Then the love of my dog life (my first and best dog) died of a brain tumor, and I was totally beside myself.
Recent studies show that 72% of people with pets consider their pet a part of the family. There are actually more households in the U.S. now with one or more pets than there are with children. Losing a pet can be very traumatic.
I have two reasons for missing my part time job (helpdesk) when I was in college that my friends still harass me about almost twenty years later. The first:
I had a small pocket knife on my key chain. As I was getting ready for work, I must have been fidgeting with it in my pocket and accidentally opened the leather punch tool. When I got into my friend's car who was going to drop me off at work, I sat down hard and pierced my skin in a sensitive place. I started bleeding and he dropped me off at the health center instead of work. I did not need stitches fortunately but it was a very awkward doctor visit.
The second was the same job about two months later. I was supposed to work from 7-11 in the evening but as I was walking out of dinner I saw a bunch of students and faculty engaged in a friendly snowball fight. I joined in at the wrong time, as someone had just recently hit a cop car with a snowball and the police were treating it like a terrorist attack. I got pepper sprayed and handcuffed, along with several other students and one of the deans of the college. The college raised a big stink about the incident and the police dropped all of the potential charges, but I still missed a night of work choking on pepper spray in the back seat of a police cruiser.
Not exactly an issue of being late, but I once called in sick for an internship because I had eaten too much at Hometown Buffet prior to work and felt ill (not food poisoning, but I just got carried away and overstuffed myself). Being young I didn't think to make up a less embarrassing excuse but fortunately my boss was very understanding.
I had just moved to a brand new area to start a new job. The morning before my first day at work I thought I'd go for a quick run. Not being familiar with the area I was depending on my phone to use as a GPS, but it was acting funny and the battery dropped from 50% to 0% mid run. I was a few miles away from home and in an unfamiliar area, got lost, and didn't make it back home until 30 minutes later than I had originally planned. I barely made it on time but was late in the sense that I wanted to show up early.
The one time I was ever significantly late for work, a woman was stopped for drunk driving and 4-5 police cars showed up and blocked my driveway with lights flashing.
This was at 7 o'clock in the morning.
My supervisor couldn't believe that someone would be stopped for drunk driving at that hour and demanded proof or I would be written up, so I took a photo and had to drop the film off at the 1-hr photomat (it was the mid 90s) on the way to work and pick up the photographic proof on my lunch hour. I remember being extra annoyed because it was a brand new roll of film so I had 23 blank photos that I had to pay to be developed.
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