For some employees, it is not doing their work that is difficult, but rather getting to their work in the first place.
While traffic is the most common explanation for tardiness, lack of sleep and bad weather are close behind. Whether you as an employer tolerate them or not, they are fairly credible explanations.
However, many employees are far more creative and, in order to explain their failure to report to work on time, come up with (perhaps actually live through) some pretty bizarre explanations for why they just didn’t show up.
Employers shared the following top ten craziest excuses they’ve received for employee tardiness:
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I knocked myself out in the shower.
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I was drunk and forgot which Waffle House I parked my car next to.
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I discovered my spouse was having an affair, so I followed him this morning to find out who he was having an affair with.
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Someone robbed the gas station I was at, and I didn’t have enough gas to get to another station.
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I had to wait for the judge to set my bail.
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There was a stranger sleeping in my car.
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A deer herd that was moving through town made me late.
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I’m not late. I was thinking about work on the way in.
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I dreamed that I got fired.
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I went out to my car to drive to work, and the trunk had been stolen out of it. (In this case, the employee had the photo to prove it.)*
To read the full Careerbuilder survey summary, check it out here.
Do they sound familiar? Do you have any to add to the list? Please share with us!
