Ridiculous ‘calling in sick’ reasons

[Sofacat]

A member of staff has called in sick with a bit of a reason and it reminded me of a young member of staff years ago who called in sick with jet lag - they’d been to Ireland .

Any one else with daft reasons for calling in sick ?

I had a secretary email in that she couldn't come in because her cat was poorly. I love cats, but seriously?!

I had an intern phone in sick because his heart was broken. Three days he took off. Day four he'd found someone new!

A former colleague of mine once memorably called in sick because he had “sweaty legs.”

I had a secretary email in that she couldn't come in because her cat was poorly. I love cats, but seriously?!

Maybe she had to take it to the vets?

Not sick but a school leaver friend of bil started his first full time job aged 16. One full week he didn't come into work. When he eventually turned up the following Monday, he was asked "where were you last week?" and he answered "it was half term"

I had a colleague that was off (months and months ) for stress, she turned up on 23rd December to book her annual leave for the next year !!

Best (or crappest) excuse I've heard - 'I drank some fizzy pop that was straight out of the fridge. It was so cold that it gave me a sore throat'

Riiiiiiiiight

My friend and I submitted identical excuses for not going to school. A wheel fell off the bus.
We were adamant it was true

I had a secretary email in that she couldn't come in because her cat was poorly. I love cats, but seriously?!

What's wrong with that?

If my pet was sick and needed vet treatment, that would take priority over going into work!

Maybe she had to take it to the vets?

Nope. Checked that. . .

A lot of these should be a request for unpaid leave or holiday. Presumably for a lot of people like me on SSP they are unpaid.

@SinkGirl I was just about to post about a friend's ds who had to miss a day of school for doing just that - getting locked out of the house yet IN the porch. He was stuck there for the whole school day and had to have a wee out of the letter box when he was desperate! So it's not just you.

I worked with someone years ago who rang in sick on the day of the company rounders tournament (actually, fair play to her, don't know why we put ourselves through it) because she'd been having a leisurely breakfast in the sun on her parents' London patio, a friendly squirrel had approached, she'd given it a few crumbs, it approached more closely and as she tried to stroke its head, it bit her cue mercy dash to the doctor's for a tetanus shot and couldn't come in all day not even to the tournament which started at 5pm.

We had fun with that for years after. "How's your grumpy old colleague getting on, Sticky?" "Sadly he just bit me" "Serves you right for stroking his head!" Happy days

Not so much reasons but quite a few of the staff from our place (mostly the university students) call in at like midday to say they can’t come to thier shift the next a Day which is usually an afternoon shift. It bugs the hell out of me because you don’t know how your gonna feel in the morning. I know some sicknesses can last a bit longer than a day. they’ve done it on several occasions and I can almost guarantee it’s because they are going out that night and no they will be in no fit state the next day.

French assistant told me he was off because he drank too much coke and felt sick. I bollocked his arse and told him to grow up.

Teacher phoned to say she wasn’t coming in because her driver door window wouldn’t go up. 🤥

I was in the office when the attendance officer phoned a parent one morning: the mother answered and shouted down the phone that her daughter was ‘out shoplifting’. Camden, circa 2000. I think we were all gobsmacked.

We had someone a while ago called in sick because he didn't have any trousers

Apparently he washed them all at the same time and they were all soaking wet.

I got locked in my flat once. Needed a key to open from either side. Called work to say I couldn't get out the flat and wouldn't be in. Called DH who very curtly informed me that of course he hadn't taken both sets of keys to work. Followed by a call 10 mins later to say he'd discovered he did actually have both sets and would be home soon. By the time this was all done I'd missed a bank holiday shift on double time. Not happy.

We had a guy call in sick because it was raining and he didn't have an umbrella .... also that his dog was ill multiple times. Got made redundant eventually.

One woman I worked with had a week off sick because she split up with someone. I didn't know whether to resent her or congratulate her

I once called in sick with a coldsore.

^^

This is justified

Years ago I worked in a massive place where a lot of folks knew of a secretary to Gods. She always looked unwashed, body odour, greasy hair, filthy nails etc.

One morning we all woke to a village wide power cut, so cold showers, no coffee blah. Our work site however had a generator so minimum tasks could still be done. 95% of us turned up as normal.

Said secretary? Phoned in sick as she was not, repeat NOT arriving without blow drying her hair!

DH once worked in an office where someone wouldn’t come in because it had snowed and she was scared of some teenagers throwing snowballs.

i lied saying i had chronic diarrhea and really needed to get it checked out bacause i had a drunk night out with the girls

One of my colleagues regularly phones in with colds, several times a year, yep, she has a cold. She runs about 10ks every day, as fit as can be but yep, 'I've got a cold, feeling ropey'. She's daMn lucky we don't use the Bradford sick leave score. She'd be stuffed.