Have you ever given your HR manager a ridiculous excuse for missing work?
Requesting for a day off from your HR to attend to personal emergencies or needs can be very tough. Some fears may be sweaty palms, memories of past experiences, being seen as unserious or being distrusted. This can contribute to opting for a more believable tale often coming across as an even more ridiculous excuse to miss work.
We spoke to HR managers to hear about some of the most ridiculous excuses employees have given. Some are very hilarious, some unbelievable, others slightly believable but turn out to be totally untrue, let’s take a look.
Feigning illness
Both employees and HR managers shared accounts of some of the most ridiculous excuses for missing work they have given or heard of with regards to illnesses. An HR manager told that an employee once called and repeatedly uttered the words “my liver, my liver, my liver is gone” as an excuse to miss work, he approved it and till this day the employee never provided any proof of liver issues.
Others included “my wife or husband is ill”, “I have a sore throat” and lastly one of the most ridiculous feigning illness excuses for missing work was an employee arrived, borrows a sweatshirt and was shaking without any fevers or temperatures.
Excuses About Incidents
Quizzing further on excuses about incidents, we learnt things like “there was an armed robbery and I have to go to the police station to give a statement”, “I lost my grandmother” (we were told an employee had used this severally and HR manager quizzed which of your grandmother paternal or maternal because said employee had already given then excuse twice (this was a facepalm moment).
The most surprising thing we learnt about ridiculous excuses for missing work from the HR managers we spoke to is that most times, such employees cannot back up their claim with facts or proof.
