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When calling out "sick" won't cut it, sometimes you have to get creative. But among the multitude of imaginative reasons for missing work, some of the wildest excuses people have given are truly unbelievable (and downright hilarious). From not being able to find parking to more outlandish claims like a neighbor's cat climbing into their car, here are 10 wacky excuses people have really used to get out of going to work.
In a Reddit post, one user recalled how a colleague once arrived late for work and initially apologized with the excuse of having overslept. But their day took an unexpected turn about an hour into their shift when the colleague said he had to leave because "he dreamt he was at work and had done a full shift already." Naturally, that dream shift had left him too exhausted to continue working in real life.
One of our colleagues at Cheapism recalled how one of her husband's employees "called in sick because he couldn't find a parking space." While we'd argue that not being able to find parking might justify skipping a social gathering, using it as an excuse to miss work is perhaps a tad bold. "Still cracks me up," she added. No kidding!
Another Redditor shared a memorable excuse he once heard from a coworker who claimed he was late because he "got stuck behind a learner driver." While this might have been a plausible excuse had it been rush hour, "this was 4am on a Saturday," said the user. "IF you did see a learner are you saying you wouldn’t overtake and rather be late to work?" questioned another Redditor. Indeed, poor excuse all around.
Another Redditor confessed they once got out of going to work by claiming their door lock "came apart and broke," just as they were about to leave their apartment to go to work. "Had to wait all morning for a locksmith to come," the user added. Despite the excuse being quite clever, the user admitted that it sounded better than "I was still suffering the effects of unwisely dropping a pill on a night out." Why, you don't say.
"Sorry, it was raining!" writes one Redditor who said they used poor weather as an excuse for getting to work late. "To be fair, it was absolutely torrential rain," added the user. "Couldn't see where I was going, had to keep stopping because the wind was driving the freezing cold rain into my face." Okay, this one sounds pretty reasonable.
We get it — sometimes you're just not in the mood for work. But to actually use that as an excuse? Wild. According to one Redditor, people have actually used it when turning up late to meetings. "Not the funniest but the line 'sorry I'm late, I didn't want to come' when uttered is always the best," writes the user. "Especially when you walk into a conference some 20 minutes late and everyone turns around to look at you."
Among the realm of wacky excuses to use, being afraid to leave the house because one's life insurance ran out is not one I would have imagined. But that's exactly what this user's colleague did. "A girl I worked with call in sick because her life insurance had ‘ran out’ and she was scared to leave the house." Better safe than sorry, I guess?
"Another time she said she had vertigo and had missed the only single decker bus," added the user. "The rest were all double deckers and there were no seats downstairs so she just went home." We don't know whether to laugh or cry. Lucky we don't have those kind of buses in the U.S. Who knows how many workplace absences those would spawn.
Another Redditor shared the hilarious excuse they used for being late to work by claiming that their car door wouldn't open. “Sorry I’m late - my car wouldn’t unlock. I was pressing the button but absolutely nothing was happening," they wrote. The real reason? Their "car was 5 miles away in the pub car park from the night before," confesses the user, adding, "Technically telling the truth though." Touche!
One user recalled how one of their employees was "about 3 hours late to work because he was trying to get Michael Jackson tickets." After finally showing up, the employee "sat all day on his phone in the queue doing no work giving attitude to management." After Jackson died, they "spiraled" and "stopped coming to work or would arrive half way the day/leave hours early," added the user. Ooof, talk about a die-hard fan.
A neighbor's cat jumping into your car and causing a ruckus isn't something you hear about everyday. But that's what one Redditor said actually happened. "It was actually true!," writes the user. "One of my neighbours cats had a habit of jumping into any open door or window, and dived straight in when I opened my car door. Ended up being late for work as I had to catch the cat." We wish we could have seen that.
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