The Strangest ‘Why I Was Late For Work’ Excuses
Posted April 11, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Creativity at work is an amazing thing. If you’re really good at it in some areas, it can get you a promotion or a lot of money. But if you’re talented in another, it can get you fired.
Take the fine art of excuse making. It’s one thing to tell your bosses you were late because your car had a flat tire or the subway was held up. It’s quite another to try and convince them that you couldn’t make it in on time because you were accidentally arrested or the President of the U.S. got in your way.
Those are just some of the doozies employers have heard in a survey of the worst ‘late-to-work’ excuses in recent memory. Pollster Harris Interactive was commissioned by the online job site Careerbuilder.com to ask nearly 3,000 executives and almost 7,000 workers for the best reasons they’ve ever given or received for tardiness at the office.
Just 15 per cent will admit to coming in late at least once a week and 32 per cent use traffic delays as their number one excuse. A good 17 per cent admit they simply fell back asleep after their alarm went off.
And then there are the other guys, the ones who seem to think their boss is such an idiot that unless they come up with a super lie, they won’t be believed. Take the drone who claimed he forgot where he worked and accidentally went to his old job. Then there’s the worker who told his startled manager he couldn’t make it in because he’d been arrested. Or the man who just wanted his gun back from the cops.
Most managers are willing to give employees some leeway as long as they’re not consistently late and get their work finished on time. But the truth almost always works better than a lie. At least 27 percent of bosses admit they’re often skeptical of the excuses they hear. And a few say they’d consider firing someone who was tardy several times a year.
Here’s the list of the Top 10 worst excuses for coming in late assembled by the pollsters. Use them at your own risk.
1. While rowing across the river to work, I got lost in the fog.
2. Someone stole all my daffodils.
3. I had to go audition for American Idol.
4. My ex-husband stole my car so I couldn’t drive to work.
5. My route to work was shut down by a Presidential motorcade.
6. I wasn’t thinking and accidentally went to my old job.
7. I was indicted for securities fraud this morning.
8. The line was too long at Starbucks.
9. I was trying to get my gun back from the police.
10. I didn’t have money for gas because all of the pawn shops were closed.
