Sick llamas, duck bites top list of craziest calling-in-sick excuses

Remember when you were in grade school and the dog would conveniently “eat your homework” at least once a month?

Did your teacher ever believe you?

Well some things never change, even as an adult working in the corporate world looking to sneak in an extra day off or two.

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But simply calling in sick just doesn’t cut it anymore, especially when many employers these days ask for a doctor’s note to confirm your illnesses.

So what’s an employee got to do to get a little extra time off? Why, get creative, of course.

And thanks to CareerBuilder and their annual study on the year’s craziest excuses for calling in sick, they have compiled some of the most colourful alibis employees have come up with for ditching work.

Researchers surveyed more than 3,100 full-time workers and 2,500 full-time hiring and human resource manages in a U.S. survey. Researchers found that fewer people are calling in sick.

According to CareerBuilder, 35 per cent of workers played hooky last year – that’s down from 38 per cent in 2015.

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Most of the reasons for not coming in to work were pretty normal:

1. 28 per cent didn’t feel like going in to work
2. 27 per cent attended doctors’ appointments
3. 24 per cent needed to relax
4. 18 per cent needed to catch up on sleep
5. 11 per cent took the day to run personal errands

But those reasons just didn’t cut it for some employees who instead chose to conjure up some pretty ridiculous (yet entertaining) stories as to why they couldn’t go in to work.

As for whether or not they were successful in convincing their bosses, we’ll let you be the judge of that.

1. My llama is sick.
2. The ozone in the air flattened my tires.
3. My pressure cooker exploded and scared my sister so we’re staying home.
4. I’m the pallbearer for the funeral of my wife’s cousin’s pet.
5. I’m blocked in by the police raiding my home.
6. I have to testify against a drug dealer and was mugged by the dealer’s friend.
7. My roots are showing so I need to keep my hair appointment.
8. I ate cat food when I thought it was tuna.
9. The hair removal cream I used under my arms caused a chemical burn so I can’t put my arms down.
10. I’m bowling the game of my life so I can’t make it into the office.
11. There’s a huge spider in my house so I’m staying home to deal with it.
12. I have better things to do.
13. I ate too much birthday cake.
14. I was bit by a duck.