‘I was selling an alligator’: 10 dumbest excuses for missing work
October 8, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: In This Week's E-Newsletter, Retention
When employees call in sick, do your managers assume they’re lying? If so, they aren’t alone.
Almost 30% of managers believe more employees are using fake excuses than in previous years, according to a recent survey by CareerBuilder. The suspected reason: stress and burnout caused by the economy.
They may be on to something. About 32% of employees admitted to playing hooky from the office at least once this year. Their top reasons:
- they “just didn’t feel like” going to work (32%)
- needed to relax (28%)
- wanted to catch up on sleep (16%)
- had errands to run (13%)
- wanted to miss a meeting (12%), and
- used the time to see family and friends (10%).
The managers were also asked for the strangest absence excuses they’ve ever heard. A sample:
- I woke up in Canada.
- 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 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.
Keep skepticism reasonable
Managers clearly have reason for healthy skepticism when employees call in sick — but, especially during flu season, they need to be careful about the message they send those employees who actually are sick.
The Centers for Disease Control recommends employees with swine flu stay home for at least a week (people who get the virus usually remain contagious for about five to seven days).
Managers need to understand that if they put too much pressure on employees to avoid taking sick days, there’s a chance they could actually add to the absenteeism problem by inadvertently spreading illness.
The best strategies for making sure sick days are taken only by those who need them? Managers’ favorite strategies: Asking for a doctor’s note and calling the employee at home.
Tags: absences, CareeBuilder, excuses, lying, swine flu
October 9th, 2009 at 11:00 am
It can also be to pay back an uncaring boss. For 3 days I came to work with a headcold. Each day I took medications, was careful about being around people and kept tissues next to my station to blow my nose. On the 4th day Thursday, when he handed out paychecks and noticed I was blowing my nose the moron said, “Looks like you are setting me up for tomorrow!” I told him I had been sick all week. On Friday morning I felt better and decided I would rather be trout fishing than go to work for a tyrant. I called out sick and drove to Va. for a day of walking the creek and fishing, had a great time. Be careful when making an insensitive joke, you may just get what you joked about.
October 9th, 2009 at 11:16 am
We had a guy that said he threw his back out trying to push his car out of the snow. the manager drove by at lunch and his car was not even cleared of snow!
Another guy said he lost electric and his clock did not go off so he overslept. Sounds normal. However, we did not open until NOON on Sunday and the managers husband works for the power company. Opps.
October 9th, 2009 at 11:46 am
It’s unfortunate that some absence policies “teach employees to lie”. Paid Time Off policies factor in all reasons and help to reduce the labeling of an absence as sick, mental health day, or vacation.
Insensitivity is alive and well. One of our managers told an employee undergoing chemo that she just needed to “push herself harder” to not feel the effects when she missed a day at work.
October 9th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
We do not offer sick time because management feels that employees will abuse it, yet employees still get sick, but are not allowed to use vacation time.
That just means sick employee who are not being productive, but are considered team players for coming in while under the weather…
October 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
My company has PTO so we don’t have sick days. It eliminates that feeling on the part of the supervisor that the employee is “stealing” something from the company. And for the employee it eliminates that idea that he/she might be missing out on or losing a benefit to which he/she is rightly entitled (i.e., the use-it-or-lose-it sick day).
Of course you still have employees who call in sick, but they are using THEIR PTO time which could be used later for a real vacation.
October 9th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
This is a very interesting subject to me, as we experience a lot of “laziness” in our field, (Over-The -Road Truck Drivers) they always want an extra day or 2 at home. So I would be interested in the how to “Catch the Hookie” and what can I legally do to the 1 I mean 10 I will catch next year. Last I knew an employer “in IL” had no creditability when faced with I fired this employee, because they lied to me about why they didn’t come to work.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I can see the point in PTO but I think it is terrible for a person who is ill to have to use what could be a vacation because they are ill. People need vacation time to get refreshed and to improve morale. Being out when truely sick is no vacation!
October 9th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
We recently had an employee (now ex) that would come to the office and while all the workers were loading the cars up, would run home (he lived a block away) to go drink. Sometimes he did this two three times a day. The third day of his employment he left and told another worker he was going to go use the bathroom at his house. (??) He never returned. He called later in the evening saying that he had to go to the hospital becuase his mother was sick. The next day said that his mother had died and needed $50.00 so he could burry her…. I wish it only cost my family that much when I pass away!
October 9th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
After missing work for two days, the employee came back to work claiming that he got sick while at survival camp and couldn’t get to a phone. He didn’t survive.
One Tuesday, I stopped by a branch office unannounced to visit the manager. He was not in. One of the clerks told me he was out loading cattle and taking them to market and that was his routine for almost every Tuesday. She was jealous and he was demoted.
The employee worked the hours of 4 p.m. to midnight. She called in to her supervisor earlier in the morning claiming she would not be able to report to work because her father’s car quit running and she was going to pick him up. After some discussion, the supervisor told her she had plenty of time to help her father and to report to work at 4. She did not report. She failed to tell us that her father was two states away in Kentucky.
And I could go on, but….
October 9th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
The CDC and OSHA are requesting that companies that require a doctor’s excuse when they are out sick for a period of time, suspend the practice this year. This will allow doctors’ offices and medical facilities to not get bogged down with these requests, but actually treat sick patients. In many of our medically under-served communities, this makes sense if we do experience a flu pandemic.
October 9th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
We offer both vacation and PTO leave. For the PTO, no excuses are needed — if you just want a day off, you request personal time and that’s it. This has dramatically reduced lying. If it’s planned, you request it in advance; if you’re sick, you call in that morning. Either way, no reason is needed. Managers have the right to block off certain times when no one is allowed to take personal or vacation leave, but illness is an exception to that. It works well for us.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:22 am
I’ve never really understood that whole note from the doctor thing. What, are we, 10 years old? And Terri, the PTO thing is actually good (if it’s structured properly) because we take all of the days we would have given under the tradtional vacation/sick day plan and lump them into one pool of PTO. So if the employee never has to call in sick, he/she can use those days towards a planned vacation and thus gets more time off than those on the vacation/sick day plan (becuase they typically lose unused sick days).
October 12th, 2009 at 8:55 am
We use PTO also and it works well. We’re unsure how the Obama proposal for everyone having 7 sick days will affect it. We’re considering going back to Vac/Sick time after the first of the year. So we’d be right back at keeping separate records and being able to believe the sick day excuses.
October 12th, 2009 at 8:59 am
A supervisor saw her employee at a fabric store making a purchase, when she was supposed to be home sick. When confronted later, she denied being at the store Friday – said she was there Saturday.
After some quick thinking, the supervisor said: “would you show me the receipt for the material you bought?” – which of course has a date stamp.
At that point the employee said “OK – I lied.” Caught by the paper trail.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:20 am
I had a lady call in one time to say her neighbor just got stabbed and the police wouldn’t let her leave because they wanted to interview her. She asked if I wanted to talk to the cop. I could hear everything that was going on in the background, so I told her I would take her word for it. I guess she didn’t do it because she came to work the next day. I excused that absence.
Our employees are allowed a set number of call-ins per year before being terminated. The only exception is if it is for an extended illness and falls under medical leave.
I made this change on purpose because I got tired of trying to decide if they were telling me the truth or not when they called in.
October 12th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
We switched to a lump PTO policy. This fixed the problem of incenting employees to lie about time off but now we have the issue that some employees use all of their PTO for vacation time and than have nothing left available when they do become sick.
October 13th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
To all of you with PTO time; how do you allow an employee to call out absence anytime they want and take PTO time if they are part of a team and if enough team mambers called out on the same shift, the process would shut down? I can see PTO time having merit if the employee(s) work alone or an office position which being absent wouldn’t necessarily put the company in a severe production situation that could affect getting orders shipped on time.
October 13th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
PTO must be approved in advance (unless it’s used as sick time, but that would be the same if we called it sick time). So we do the same as with vacation leave, and make sure an entire team or department does not schedule at the same time. Just because we call it PTO doesn’t mean we have no control over when it’s taken.
October 14th, 2009 at 8:04 am
I’m nervous with the whole doctor’s note situation. I think the employer is stepping into a gray area regarding HIPPA when it comes to doctor’s notes. If an employer is skeptical when an employee calls out sick, take a look at that employee’s pattern of behavior. Is there a trend that would support the skepticism? I do find some of the manager’s reactions interesting when an employee calls out sick. I read in one of these postings that an employee called out saying he could not move his car out of the snow and the manager actually went out and drove by this employee’s residence. Seems to me this manager is just as unproductive as the employee or just does not have enough work to do.
October 14th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
HRTom: PTO is all about finding a balance between an employee’s need for time away from work for and our need to have sufficient staff to get the job done. PTO may be used for vacation, the employee’s own illness, to care for a family member, for school / parent events, etc… Most companies with a PTO plan also have a separate no-fault attendance policy. Employees are charged points for unscheduled absences and tardiness, regardless of the reason (so again, employees won’t have to lie), and formal corrective action is initiated once certain point-levels are met. The only exception would be for unscheduled FMLA-protected absences.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I agree with Steve R – how productive is it to worry about why the employee called out? Does it really make a difference? People appreciate being respected and treated as adults. As for calling off for bad weather… my priorities have changed a LOT over the years. When I was single I would drive a go-cart with bald tires in a blizzard… I didn’t think twice about it. Now, I have kids and am the sole provider and don’t want die in a car crash just to get to work and do some relatively unimportant paperwork that could wait until tomorrow.
October 15th, 2009 at 10:07 am
We’re a pretty small company and went the PTO route years ago. I’m the entire HR department and I frankly don’t have time to play detective and figure out if an employee is lying when they call in sick. If you want a day off, take it. It’s their PTO and as long as it doesn’t cause a hardship to the mgr or dept, it’s theirs to do with as they wish.
On a side note, let me share one of my most entertaining stories. We had an employee who after working a full two weeks and getting his first paycheck, suddenly became ill at lunchtime and had to go home. I already had plans to take the afternoon off and was going to a nearby town with some friends where there were casinos. You probably know how this ends. We were walking down the street in this small town, and I see our employee walking in my direction. I’m thinking “no, can’t be!” but it was indeed him. When he saw me, well, I’ve never actually physically watched the color drain from someone’s face before. He wouldn’t make eye contact as we passed on the street but wouldn’t that be enough for you to high tail it out of town?! No, not him. I ran into him 3 more times throughout the day, each incident becoming more and more awkward. He finally approached me, reeking of alcohol, almost in tears and apologized….then pointed out how funny the entire incident was. Yeah, hilarious. He didn’t show up for work ever again.
October 15th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
EE’s can be their own worst enemies…they do not have to tell why they are calling off…that they are sick and not coming in. PERIOD. Managers cannot question them about medical conditions, according to the ADA.
On the listed best strategies, Managers need to be careful to be fair and consistent across the board when requesting Dr’s notes. If they miss even one, EVER they can be sued for discrimination, especially if the EE falls in any one of the protected classes…look out. Calling the employee at home is not a good determinant either. If they are sick, they could be medicated or sleeping and not hear the phone. Being contacted at home could be construed as working, and salary employees can file a grievance or Wage and labor dispute for compensation for the day.
Managers should just accept the fact that there are times when employees are going to call in and be off. Pick your battles, is it really worth the effort to catch someone in a white lie? Spend that time and effort finding a replacement for them for the day.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Requiring a sick employee to come in and spread their germs is just dumb in my opinion.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
We have sick and vaction days. Depending on the position is how many vaction hours per month you get. Everybody gets 8 hours of sick time per month. In our HR office we never call or find out. The departments are responsible for keeping up with that. Then on timesheets or leave slips the department head will sign for verificaiton. We only require doctor’s note if the employee is sick for 40 or more consecutive hours. So an employee can take 39 sick hours and we never have to have proof or ask them about being sick.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Sorry, that is suppose to be vacation
October 16th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Bravo Mary AZ – I agree wholeheartedly. Just deal with it and move on. There are more important things to worry about. Mary, did you by any chance used to work for a software company in Concord, CA?
October 19th, 2009 at 8:28 am
One of our employees called in sick the day after bowling, which we called the bowling flu. Fortunately, his attendance has improved.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Hey Judy – I’ve had that “bowling flu”. Unlike other strains of flu, it specifically hits the hamstrings, gluts and lower back. Good news, however, no shots needed – just a comfy chair and a few gentle stretches!
October 21st, 2009 at 9:29 am
We are a LTC facility and “burn out” is a frequent reason for call-outs in our facility. We used to have Dept. heads that would ask “what is the illness” then when HIPPA started to be a big part of our lives I suggested the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. This means that when an employee calls in “sick” we take it at face value I mean come on! Have you ever asked someone “whats wrong with you” and they start giving you explicit details about their illness. EWWW! No thank you.
We also implemented a new absenteeism policy which gives you eight unscheduled days a year if you miss nine your employment is terminated this is with our without a Dr.’s excuse. If the days are consecutive its one absence if there is even one day in between that is another absence, this has worked well for us and since we implemented the new attendance policy we have had a 15% improvement in attendance I realize this may not be a huge number to most of you however, we are a very small facility.
I personally feel like if you are driving around seeing if your employee is “playing hooky” you have too much time on your hands I mean really who cares its not money out of your pocket its money the employee is losing and I totally agree with the post that said that time could be spent finding a replacement for the employee that called out.
Furthermore, do you really want to encourage your employees to come in sick, how much sense does that make? Do you really like the idea of blowing your nose, diarrhea vomiting or whatever may be going on with that person. Not me. On the other hand I know what it is like to have to work sick its miserable I am the entire payroll, and H/R dept. (like I said we are small) and I had phnemonia earlier in the year I was sick for six weeks in part because I came back to work before I was totally well and had a relapse.
We do believe in our employees and we do take their word when it comes to attendance. Bottom line it is up to the employee to follow the attendance policy if they want to waste those eight days farting around thats on them.