Worst reasons collegues have rang in sick....

[Itsawildworld85]

Broken radiator in spring....(not boiler!)

We had a porch like that when I was a teenager and I got myself locked into it so many times! Which is why I really hate those kinds of locks. Now I live abroad where doors always have abloy locks which can always be opened from the inside without a key (and doors always open outwards, for fire safety reasons after a tragic fire in a church where the doors opened inwards and people were crushed and killed as others panicked to open them against the crowd trying to get out) which is far far safer in a fire.

Bronchitis couldn’t breathe . Later same day posted pictures at a festival, drink in hand on . Media

I was reading a few of these out to my colleague, who has just informed me that she once line managed a woman who regularly phoned in with 'child care issues'.

The children were 23 and 21 with no special needs or anything like that.

One of her 'child care issues' was that it was the 21-year-old's first day at his new job and she needed to accompany him there on the Tube for the first few days to help him get used to the journey. Another was that she had to accompany her 23-year-old to the optician because she 'didn't want her to go through it on her own if the optician says she needs glasses'.

Haha, similarly I used to work with a girl who phoned in with 'suspected glandular fever' and apparently couldn't get out of bed, could barely swallow, swollen glands, migraine headache etc, only to see on Facebook that her friends had tagged her in loads of pictures of them all getting hammered that night at a Foo Fighters gig 100 miles away.

Her maid had smashed her Hermes ashtray and she was too upset to come to work.

@Itsawildworld85

We had a person at work [London] who lived in Kent. Often had no money to get to work. True to say that when they were at work they did more than many who did their 37 hours. So management got them an annual season [under the scheme for that] - problem solved! The ticket was limited in that it was "marked" that it could not be traded in!

Another person who lived in a seaside town with many clubs was never at work on a Monday! Years and years before it became common they were given the option "leave" or work Tuesday to Friday 9-and-a-bit hours.

Worked to a degree!

He said he couldn’t come into work because he was dead. Idiot. If you’re going to fake your own death, at least get someone else to make the call!

Sunburnt shoulders. Another couldn't get into work for snow, but stayed in a flat in the same street as the place of work. In school, a guy I walked in with was kept off by his parents because it was raining heavily.

These are just brilliant!

Here are some I've heard (as receptionist) in an old job:

I can't come in today, my Godmother's boiler isn't working.

My horse is poorly so I can't come in for two weeks. She never returned to the job!

My car won't start (this person lived in easy walking distance from the office).

I can't come in today as am very poorly (in the background of the phone call I could hear "The next train to Dublin will depart at....insert time here". The caller quickly scrabbled about and hung up. 😂 The office we worked in was not in Ireland!

One woman rang in and said she was dreadfully ill and couldn't come in. That lunch time I saw her in Morrisons, chatting to some friends, happy and as right as rain. She saw me and called out HELLOOOO and waved, with no sense of embarrassment whatsoever.

A Christmas tree fell off the car in front and under her car. It was February.

He thought he was a ghost??

I had a guy call in and say he had been arrested so couldn’t come in. It was true and he apparently used his phone call to tell us, so I didn’t take any further action. He was arrested for something silly and he was 18. He actually now is a pub manager and whenever I see him he says how glad he is I didn’t fire him.

If I’m ill I usually sound very poorly though, it’s usually a chest infection or the like.

The day after the Manchester arena bombing our new admin person called in sick, and was off for several days. We thought she had been at the gig from the message she left and were very understanding. No, she was in a different part of Manchester and her bus route was messed up so she had got home very late, but why she then needed a whole week off we never understood. HR was non-existent, so I can't imagine she was pulled up for it.

I worked with a guy who called to say he had come off his motorcycle and would be late. Then there was a lot of talking and rustling noises and someone else said that he had to hang up NOW. Turns out that was the paramedic wrestling the phone off him to put an oxygen mask on.

To be fair, a pet having a medical crisis is a valid reason. Cruel to leave it.

Sunstroke got it as the sun was apparently in him as he was in a forklift......indoors

Same bloke, frostbite.

There was only a few days between the two

I agree - my dogs welfare is my responsibility, if he needs to go to the vet urgently, I will take him. That said, I'd use annual leave or make up my hours rather than use sick leave.

Reminder to self: one can only use the grandparent just died excuse 4 times max.

Thank you for saying this. This is exactly what happened to me. The months after I lost my cat were among the darkest in my life.

Fell on treadmill and hurt ribs and could not walk, or take bus or tube.

Best fun was calling employee and hearing the blurb blurb ring of non-UK phone ring.

Then Saying to employee …. A person has called and told us you were not injured and are on holiday. Would you mind please sending us any info from your Gym, or A&E to help us resolve this???

Her response: Did the person sound Polish?

I just requested proof of injury that did not come. We terminated her with last paycheck to be collected in person & she never came to collect. And sent a man to collect it be we refused to release to stranger.

I once got stuck in my house because the door got jammed and had to wait for the landlady to sort it out (although I phoned to say I was going to be late, not sick.)

Different employer, my upstairs neighbours kept me awake all night having a party with his pissed mates. I was pregnant and tired all the time anyway, and I just couldn't face an eight hour shift. I was so tired I felt ill, so I phoned in sick. My manager had previously made me go to work when I had toothache that was making me feel sick and was infected. I hadn't slept that night, it was during the same pregnancy , and it was one of those awful ones that painkillers won't touch. I did tell him to not expect me to do any work as I felt so awful. Nob. This was also the manager that made me do heavy lifting after I told him I was pregnant. I later found out I should have refused because they'd be in trouble if I'd had a miscarriage.

Depends how bad the sunburn is, I think. At its worst it can dramatically limit mobility.

She wanted to stay home because snow was forecast.

I checked the forecast, light snow. I said I'd make a call in the morning.

No, she wouldn't be able to drive in light snow.

Don't you live near a direct train?

Oh, I couldn't take the train. So can I have the day off?

You can book it as leave, yes.

No snow on the day, but ironically I ended up sending the whole office home because of a full day powercut, which didn't apply to her as she was on holiday.

😂 That is classic cat action, to be fair. A relative was off work for a month because his cat bit his arse and he put his back out trying to pull it off.