Benefits February 23, 2011
Hiring Managers Share Most Outrageous Tardiness Excuses
February 23, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – In a recent CareerBuilder survey workers shared a variety of reasons for being tardy, with the top excuse being traffic-related (30%), followed by lack of sleep (19%).
Reported by Rebecca Moore
Nine percent blamed the bad weather for their tardiness, while 8% indicated a delay in getting their kids to daycare or school. Other common reasons included public transportation, wardrobe issues or dealing with pets, according to a press release.
However, some workers had more “interesting” excuses for being late. Hiring managers provided the following examples of the most outrageous excuses employees offered for arriving late to work:
- Employee claimed is car was inhabited by a hive of bees and he couldn’t use the car for two hours until bees left.
- Employee claimed their cat attacked them.
- Employee claimed it was a delay with public transportation and produced a note signed by “The Bus Driver.”
- Employee claimed his Botox appointment took longer than he expected.
- Employee claimed his hair was hurting his head.
- Employee claimed they did not get any sleep because their boyfriend’s wife threw them out of the house.
- Employee claimed they knew they were already going to be late, so they figured they’d go ahead and stop to get donuts for everyone.
- Employee claimed their Karma was not in sync that day.
- Employee claimed they got hurt taking a fork out of the dishwasher.
- Employee claimed they weren’t late … the company clock was wrong.
The survey reveals that 15% of workers said they arrive late to work once a week or more, down from 16% in 2009 and 20% in 2008. While some employers are more lenient with worker tardiness, 32% said they have terminated an employee for being late.
The national survey was conducted among 2,482 U.S. employers and 3,910 U.S. employees between November 15 and December 2, 2010.You Might Also Like:

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