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Bebeto Matthews / AP
Yep, I'm about to make you late for work
The most common excuse for being late to work is also the most predictable one: Traffic.
The least common excuses for being late to work? Now, those are much more interesting.
CareerBuilder.com recently asked Harris Interactive to survey employees and employers on workplace tardiness.
While employees said traffic, lack of sleep and bad weather were the chief causes of being late to work, hiring managers shared some more unusual excuses they’d heard for not showing up on time.
Among them:
*Employee's cat had the hiccups
*Employee’s angry roommate cut the cord to his phone charger, so it didn’t charge and his alarm didn’t go off.
*Employee’s leg was trapped between the subway car and the platform (turned out to be true).
*Employee thought she had won the lottery (she didn’t).
And our favorite:
*Employee got distracted watching the TODAY Show.
Now that’s totally understandable.
Apparently, getting to work on time is still a problem, even in this economy. The survey found that 16 percent of workers are late to work at least once a week, a tiny increase from last year.
It’s also not always a laughing matter: About one-third of hiring managers said they had fired an employee for being late.
Readers, tell us your most unusual reason for being late to work in the comments section below or on our Facebook page. We’ll feature some of the responses in an upcoming post.
Related:
Help wanted: Must be able to show up to work on time
Leave a Comment:
If people are fiscally suicidal enough to risk their livelihood over a hiccoughing cat or watching TV too long, in this economy, then they deserve what they get. You can't fix stupid.
Involuntary sterilization and a bullet can fix stupid.
You have no idea what really happened. Our companion animals are family. At least for normal people. The cat may have had a chronic illness or recovering from an illness. There is nothing stupid about being caring and compassionate. Stupid is blathering on without full information.
I've not only been late to work, I've missed work when one of my furred kids has been sick.
indigo, such hard rage over a light hearted article! Why?
Did you ever think that some could consider YOU to be the stupid that needs fixing?
(Indigo) Well, all reasons put aside, that is one way to fix stupid. Although the world would be a fairly vacant place if we did fix it, cuase who hasn't done something others would consider 'stupid' :P ROFLMAO!
How's this for a laugh...in Greece, public workers not only don't get fired if they're late to work but are given a monthly bonus JUST for showing up to work. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum....
Yes, and we've all seen how financially stable Greece is...
Actually, I worked for a pharmaceutical company in NJ that gave attendance bonuses out every two weeks. It was a good job, so I didn't need much incentive to get to work anyway, but I did enjoy the extra money.
Anal glaucoma....just couldn't see my a$$ getting up at five o'clock this morning.
lol I usually have eye issues, eye can't see myself going to work today.
I fell into your girlfriend on the way in boss...
True story: I was late because one of my cats was on top of the neighbor's roof, crying and too afraid to jump down from one story high. Fortunately a bush was next to their house, I am sure that's how she got up there in the first place. I rigged a blanket over some branches and the cat worked up the gumption to jump into it. I just couldn't leave her up there all day to fend for herself. Fortunately I worked for a small company and the boss was understanding. Now I work for a large company with strict rules. I am NOT a morning person so I struggle every day to get up and get going. 30 years and still struggling.
Heading to work in my old Cadillac, when it died. Got a tow truck to haul me to the garage, where i bummed a ride home to get my Harley. Rode the 50 miles to town and was within two miles of work when a drunk turned left in front of me. Pushed the bike to the side of the road and borrowed a tire iron to pry the front fender away from the tire. Got back on the bike and was only 45 minutes late for work.
Only lasted there about two hours until the sprains and bruises sent me home for the evening.
Same here. I'm a manager in a large, very busy company and the hardest thing I have to do everyday is wake up. After I'm vertical, any challenge is manageable.
@singbiker, i am actually surprised you made it to the crash on time riding a Harley.
@MO - That's my favorite answer to the typical "How are you?" is "Vertical. Any day I'm vertical is a good one."
BTW, my cats have only once made me late for work, but they've saved my ass from oversleeping many times. They want to be fed on time and will do a tap dance on my head to make sure they get it.
I'm constantly behind because of my cat - for many reasons! Fortunately if I'm a few minutes late, its no big deal, just make them up during lunch. D@$n cat!
I have only been late because of my cats twice and both times where my fault. I have one cat who thinks anything on the floor is a cat toy, so when I knocked my keys off the kitchen counter onto the floor I can only blame myself for her knocking them under the fridge. The other time one of my other cats was rolling around on the bed when I was getting dressed when he rolled around and stuck his head in my bra strap and jumped onto the floor with it around his neck I had to chase him down to catch him and get it off his head (this was after I stopped laughing at him running from the bedroom). You wouldn't think it would be hard to catch a cat in a small 2 bedroom condo unit, but it was harder than you would think.
I am perpetually 15 minutes early, and consider that "late" by my own standards. I always set my clocks 15 minutes fast and have had to block access to I can't tell you how many time servers to prevent various devices from resynching clocks to "regular time".
But it does so happen that, on occasion, I do run actual late. The most amusing of these rare instances:
The weather had been bad, there was snow and ice thick and heavy everywhere, so I'd left even earlier than usual. Traffic had been even worse than I expected, and finding a place to park was nearly impossible, but I managed to find a spot, and looking at my clock, I saw I had only two minutes before I would be actually real-time late. "Just made it" I thought as I closed the car door and tried to step away.
I say tried to step away, because I'd caught my pant leg in the car door. Worse, I could see my keys on the dash. I could neither free my pant leg nor open the door. I was stuck and had no choice - I called my boss's cell from mine and said:
"You're not going to believe this, but I am going to be a little late." and proceeded to explain what had happened. But this is where it gets funny:
I heard my boss reply: "You're right, I wouldn't believe it," but his voice wasn't in my phone, it was right behind me, "except I'm right behind you."
We had a good laugh at the sheer absurdity of the situation, and I had a spare key in my desk drawer, so it was only the longest, coldest five minutes until I was free.
lol - great story!
That's hilarious! Thanks for sharing!
That definitely made my day!!
As for me, I'm never late. I am very much a morning person and am awake by 5:30 every morning. I don't use an alarm clock either, haven't for at least 30 years. I apparently got my dad's genes since he didn't use one either (gee thanks). Where I work, the starting time is roughly 9:00 for most, but I'm usually in between 7:00 and 7:30. Good thing that I like my work.
It's not that I like waking up that early, my internal clock just wakes me up. And it doesn't matter how tired I am or how late I stay up. Sleeping in is til 7:00 before I just have to get up. I can't even stay in bed on the weekend. Some days I wish I could sleep a bit more. <sigh>
Had an employee call me to say, "Boss, I'm gonna be late. The power is out, so my garage door opener won't work".
What did your employee say when you told him to pull the cord with the red handle that is hanging from the garage door opener chain?
But that cord is difficult to reach when the car is parked directly beneath - might have to crawl up on the car's roof to reach it.
One of my co-workers skipped a day of work because his dog was having puppies. Some puppies are quite valuable, and occasionally a person might be able to help when there is a problem. But few employers will understand giving the dog higher priority than a livelihood.
Off topic but unethical,
Has anyone noticed that when you comment on an article and are required to sign in that the "Post to my Facebook Wall" option is UNCHECKED but after signing in this checkbox is RESET to CHECKED?
Why should msn.com or newsvine be allowed to do this? If the defailt setting is UNCHECKED then it should stay UNCHECKED unless YOU decide you want it posted to your facebook wall (what the hell that is). You just may be posting stuff on facebook you had no intention of posting!
Best One I've heard in awhile, a coworker called , our boss put it on speaker phone for all to hear... Ron , I can't make it in yet my face hurts. (Your Face hurts?)
Yea. (When do you think it'll stop hurting?) Um I don't know maybe around 10 (So we'll see you around 10?) Uh, if it stops hurting. (Ok)
Hhe didn't make it in that day and was let go... hope his face feels better...
I think if a person makes a habit of coming in late to work, they should be fired, I do realize that once in awhile, something can come up to make a person late. But if it becomes a habit, well someone has a problem.
Think about this, you need medical help, and everyone is late coming into the hospital, and the night shift are all busy, because they also are short handed on labor. Makes a nice thought, doesn't it.
Clinical depression, Adult ADD,a treatable chemical abuse problem,taking a prescription medication that makes it harder for a person to wake up,are just a few example of medical problems that would manifest in chronic tardiness, in which case the employee needs to see their physician.I think anyone in health care who has the attitude that when someone is showing classic symptoms of a medical problem the first thing that should happen is for that person to lose their job, the one doing the talking is the one who should be fired.
If someone is often late due to a family problem such as having an unreliable babysitter, ultimately it's not the manager's problem, however taking a few minutes to sit with the employee and help them brainstorm a better solution may save them the time and money of recruiting, hiring, and training a replacement.
And I think that anyone, but ESPECIALLY someone's peer at work who watches the clock and keeps track of every time one of their coworkers is five minutes or less late for work needs to be fired because the clock-watcher isn't doing their job, but more importantly they are a s--- stirrer.
One cold morning as I was groggily making my way to the bathroom, I slipped in cat vomit near the top of the stairway and cut my knee on the corner of the railing. It wouldn't stop bleeding as I was cleaning up the cat puke, nor did it while I was in the shower. Eventually, after about 4 large band-aids and about a half hour, I got it under control enough to put on some clothes. I finished my morning routine, went downstairs to get my coffee left by my husband and discovered the hot water pipe had frozen as I went to wash out my favorite travel mug. After I bent down to open the cabinet where I knew I could get at the frozen pipe, I lost my balance and fell backwards into, you guessed it, another small pile of cat vomit. I hadn't noticed it when I first walked into the kitchen because it was the same color as the rug/mat it was sitting on. (Says a lot for my sense of design, huh?). Anyway, at this point I had to go change my clothes because I now had cat puke all over my butt and I had no idea what to wear and I also had to thaw the pipe with a hairdryer so it wouldn't burst... Needless to say, I was not on time for work that day and I didn't even bother to tell the truth because it was so ridiculous. Cats really do seem to be at the root of this problem for a lot of us.
shoot the cat, no vomit, no dirty clothes, don't have to worry about frozen pipes and get to work on time.
Setting a clock 15 or more fast to get you up is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.
why not set it one hour fast so you will get to work earlier
you know it is set fast, so why not leave it at the correct time and set the alarm 15 minutes earlier. it is the same no matter what. if you don't get up , you don't get up !! only stupid people set clocks faster than actual time. if you need more sleep, go to bed earlier dummy.
That's the dumbest thing you've ever hear? Really? The dumbest? The absolute dumbest and people who set their clocks early are dumb? No YOU"RE DUMB!YOU ARE DUMB!
And the award for making a dumb comment critizing a comment complaining about dumb behaviors being complained about is.....Rahrichie
Seeing how I am out of sick days, I'm calling in dead.
When I was in the military, we usually had a few people who were consistently FTR. The most common excuse was that their alarm didn't go off.
Thanks to Yahoo, I too can be an ass-licking corporate toady! Hooray!
Futher proof that employment truly is income for dummies.
First off, I admit to having a little issue with tardiness. Long time back, I had a boss who really ragged on me every time I was a couple of minutes late. There had been a giant snow storm and many roads weren't plowed, they only had two lanes for tires. As I was about a block away from work, on a curved street with the two little lanes, a bus happened to be coming the other way. One of us had to back out, but neither of us could get the traction we needed. It took about 45 minutes for me to finally be able to back out of that road. (note we didn't have cell phones at the time). I was so stressed after that, and knowing I'd be yelled at for being late too (and probably accused of lying), I went back home and called in sick. Phew!
Had a heart attack and I'm in cardiac icu. True!
I believe in showing up. I believe in giving good work for fair money. If I'm late you can bet I'll stay late. I'm not an automaton that can show up at the exact same time every day but you can count on me being in short of pneumonia.
That said, if my cat is vomiting, broke his leg or otherwise having problems in the morning I'm going to call in and take him to the vet. I may be late or out for the day.
Why? Because my cats will be with me long after the company I give my days to decides I'm redundant and downsizes me. Companies feel no loyalty to their workers anymore, but I expect my cats to last 15 years and love me unconditionally while they do.
True Story. I was a supervisor and one morning John, who was ALWAYS on time, very punctual always dressed nice in suit and tie, clean shaven, smelled great and the ladies loved him he was our sales rep. About 8:30 we noticed John had not arrived and no one had heard from him, (before cell phones.) People were calling looking for him because he missed his appointments!!
Finally about noon John walks into the office, his head is bandaged with 18 stitches, he is limping, his right leg had 26 stitches, his left eye was bruised and swollen and his right hand had stitches and bandages on, I mean he looked like he had been beat up big time!! Well here is what happened. He owns two small pug dogs and in the middle of the night a raccoon climbed in through the kitchen window and the dogs began chasing the raccoon through the house. John wakes up in his BVD's only and tries to control the situation. One dog was attacked by the raccoon almost tearing off an ear and the same dog got one eye ball lacerated from the socket! In his pursuit of getting his dog the raccoon scratched him on the bare legs causing him to trip over a barstool where he hit his head on a coffee table. The entire situation was pure chaos. He managed to get his dogs locked in the bathroom so he could get the raccoon out of the house. Afterwards he got dressed and took the dog to the vet for surgery (did save his ear and eye) and then he had to go to the hospital for stitches AND a testnus shot!
Now mind you if he had called in and began telling me this story I probably would have had some doubts. What was even more amazing was he showed up to work at all!!! He was never late again!!
What a guy! I know that I would have called out for a few days after something like that.
Once had an employee (making 75k) call me telling me he was going to be late as his wife wouldn't let him go to work until his chores were done.
LMAO. Sounds like a great husband :)
1st world problems...
Yep, considering we're in the First World, they would be.
Being late by 10-15 minutes is not a big deal if your job is not essential (like an ER doctor would be, or something along those lines), and as long as you stay late to make up for it. I think it would be stupid to let people go over a few minutes if they are otherwise excellent employees. I have worked with some people who were hired to replace the latecomers in the past and the boss quickly realized it was a mistake and the grass wasn't greener on the other side.
My current boss appreciates someone staying late so he can ask for help since he stays working till 8, over someone coming early, (before he even arrives) and sitting at their desk playing games until he comes in, and then, when he needs help later on in the day, being told "oh, my 7.5 hours are up, see ya". I guess I am lucky that my boss doesn't get in until 10, but I have met other bosses who feel the same way, and they'd rather have someone helping out with the work come crunch time so they can go home. Flexibility is critical, and a flexible employee who is willing to help any time the boss calls on him/her makes a great impression, regardless of a few minutes of tardiness.
Boss calls me at 9:05am : "Where are you?" "I'm at the 7-11 getting coffee."
"Why are you late?" "Because I stayed til 2am working on that report that you couldn't see fit to do yourself."
Needless to say, I didn't stay there much longer.
I once had to call in to work to say I would not be in because I was locked in the house!! Hubby had my house/car keys in his truck (he was a delivery driver and was across the state!!) and we had double sided dead bolts in the house (keyed on both sides, no thumb turn). Even if I had managed to get out of the house I couldn't have gotten in the garage (no keys), and had I managed to get in the garage couldn't have gotten the car started (again, no keys). We learned to keep a spare set handy after that.
Same thing happened to me!
Actually, the cat excuse is probably better than some of the reasons I've heard from co-workers..."the McDonald's drive thru took too long with my food", "I'm too hungover to come in right now", "I fell out of bed while having sex and got hurt", "I'm still having sex", etc.
I was working swing shift and called my boss to say I was going to be late because an eagle was eating one of my cats. Someone's pet eagle had gotten out. It had its wings clipped and was hobbled by a chain. Somehow it found its way to my house, caught and began eating a kitten. My other cats surrounded it and wer acting like they wanted to attack. At the same time the neighborhood kids kept getting too close to this clearly agitated bird. I had to keep both kids and cats away from the bird until animal control arrived. They never found the owner of the (illegal) bird so it ended up in a zoo. When I got to work my boss was skeptical, but I just told him to call animal control if he didn't believe me.