Worst reasons collegues have rang in sick....

[Itsawildworld85]

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

The underpass is flooded that I use to get to the station.

like it was the only way to get to the station! (It wasn’t, there were at least 3 other routes they could have taken)

I was once locked inside my flat by my flatmate. Can’t quite remember but it was some kind of weird lock that couldn’t be opened from the inside when she’d locked it outside. It was a London terrace, no opening windows at the front , small high walled garden at the back, I was completely stuck until she came home from work!

A new colleague rang in sick because his partner had sprained his ankle.

We had a miserable man in one department who was always off sick. One Friday morning he rang in with a headache… he wouldn’t be in that day nor would he be in til next Tuesday…. As he was still going to have the headache!

it was a Bank Holiday weekend…

I had a boss call in to say he was going to be late because his cat followed him all the way to the station and he had to take it back home 😂😂😂

Mice had got into his box of paper work (including house deeds etc) and needed to deal with that before they destroyed everything.
This was to avoid coming into the office for their end of year appraisal 🙄

My mum did that! She was a dinner lady. Got a call from the kitchen manager and answered it
”hiyaaa how was your summer?”
”it was great thanks, how was yours?”
”really good, I feel really well rested thanks”
”what are you up to now?”
”im just in bed having having one last lie in, how about you?”
”well I’m at work, along with everyone else!”
She sprung up and was mortified. He just told her to go back to sleep and try again tomorrow 🤣

Another one. Quite specific so a wave to my ex colleagues if they recognise this!

New ish hire didn't come back from lunch break. A couple of hours later the manager received a phone call from "the police", but clearly actually new hire, claiming that new hire's body had been found in the river and could she go down and identify it. She didn't, of course.

Coming to work by bike in London, a car nearly knocked them over.
Got partner to call in and say they wouldn’t come to work.
”Are they hurt? Did they fall?”
” No but they got a very big fright”
😑

I lived and worked in Leeds. One morning, a car and a van collided with each other blocking two major roads north of Leeds. Both drivers were killed. I walked it as I could see from the place I was renting the A61 Harrogate Road, no vehicles were moving.

A few lads who rang in to say they can't get to work due to the road crash. They lived in Morley and the roads were unaffected.

Not calling in sick to work, but I have a pathological fear of worms. A total phobia. I can't even look at a picture of one, or even a worm emoji.

They come out when it rains and one day I opened the door and there was a big fat worm on the step that looked the size of an adder. So I slammed the door and skived off school.

The door was locked because we'd all been in bed asleep during the night and hadn't been out yet that morning. Our downstairs windows were bay windows and only the top part opened, not big enough to climb out of. Upstairs windows opened fully but too high up to risk climbing out of.

Someone else mentioned being locked in too. Could you not have climbed out a window to get the key?

One of mine this time. Worked at a cinema chain. Someone went home with a migriane/sickness. Then came in later to watch a film..... Which would surely exacerbate your migraine?? Also one person I was out with who asked for no pictures on a night out as she was 'off sick' because ( and I paraphrase) 'They pissed me off so I thought I'd take a week off to teach them a lesson.....'

No, bay windows where only the top little squares open. They're not big enough to climb out of.

Back in early 2000's before wfh:

"It's too windy and I'm worried I'll be hurt if I leave the house".

It was very windy, and she was a very tiny woman, but management didn't take this well!

Colleague who couldn’t make it in when it snowed… when she made it back to work it was mentioned to her that ‘Boudicca’ was able to get in and she replied the “Well it’s ok because she’s so frumpy and can wear sensible footwear and I can’t because it’s not my style”

I worked with someone who phoned in sick because he was upset that George Harrison had died. He 'just needed to stay home and think and listen to Beatles songs' apparently.

This is relatable! Though never when I had to get to work.

One of our new graduates didn’t come in last week because she’d been triggered by being told she done something incorrectly the day before. In a gentle, not your fault you’re new, not this what THAT way … she was so upset her mum rang in for her. She’s 22. I’ve a feeling she isn’t going to be offered a contract when her times up! In fact she may not even make it out of probation at this rate, she didn’t answer her desk phone to a client because she didn’t recognise the number, then didn’t listen to the voice message or call back…
Was pointed out that we have literally 1000s of clients and she’s not going to recognise every phone number.

That sounds really unsafe from a fire/emergency perspective.

An old colleague of mine once called in sick because there was a dead frog on her front path and she’s massively phobic of them 🐸

she’s a clinical psychologist 🤣

There was one girl at work and I was kind of supposed to be her unofficial supervisor. She was covering reception for a month which was usually my job but I was too busy.

One day she said she couldn't come in because she hadn't been paid her wages. I was massively sympathetic, as it was a low paid job. Who would have money left over to cover themselves if their wages weren't paid on time?

The boss laughed and mocked her for not having enough money for the bus, then ridiculed my living situation as I was trying to defend her. And she still didn't give her the money she was owed. And no she didn't come to work that day.

"Someone had upset her the day before, and she needed time off to recover."

Yes. They upset you by telling you that the email you sent was unprofessional. Which it was. But sure, go 'recover' whilst the person you tried to screw over on a chain with 10 different directors has to manage the fallout.

I once tried to call off work in my late teens because I had been made temporarily "homeless" by a tornado... it had caused roof damage to the small block of flats & police wouldn't allow any residents to access the property.

I had stayed overnight at a friends, had no clean clothes & my manager still insisted I go in. I don't think she believed me at first... to be fair this was in the West Midlands so definitely an unsual original "excuse" 😂