Top 10 dubious excuses for calling in sick

Didn’t think so.

But apparently someone did, and he or she used it as an excuse for calling in sick.

That’s one of the dubious excuses cited in a CareerBuilder national survey examining how many workers have faked being sick this year.

The good news is that while 28 percent of employees called in to work sick when they were not, that’s down from the 2013 survey results of 32 percent.

Of that 28 percent, according to the survey:

• 30 percent said they just did not feel like going to work.

• 29 percent said they wanted the day to relax.

• 21 percent took off to attend a doctor’s appointment.

• 11 percent took off because of bad weather.

Interestingly, while 49 percent of employees have a paid-time-off program that allows them to use time off however they choose, about a quarter of those folks said they still felt obligated to make up an excuse for taking off a day.

On the flip side, about one in five employers has fired an employee for calling in sick with a fake excuse, according to the survey.

Here are the 10 most unbelievable real-life excuses for calling in sick (from the survey):

(1) Employee just put a casserole in the oven.

(2) Employee’s plastic surgery for enhancement purposes needed some “tweaking” to get just right.

(3) Employee was sitting in the bathroom and her feet and legs fell asleep. When she stood, up she fell and broke her ankle.

(4) Employee had been at the casino all weekend and still had money left to play with on Monday morning.

(5) Employee woke up in a good mood and didn’t want to ruin it.

(6) Employee had a “lucky night” and didn’t know where he was.

(7) Employee got stuck in the blood pressure machine at the grocery store and couldn’t get out.

(8) Employee had a gall stone he or she wanted to heal holistically.

(9) Employee caught his or her uniform on fire by putting it in the microwave to dry.

(10) Employee accidentally got on a plane.

Other highlights from the survey include:

• One in four employers (24 percent) has caught an employee lying about being sick by checking social media.
• December is the most popular month for calling in sick, according to 21 percent of employers, followed by January (17 percent) and February (14 percent).
• Employees in professional and business services called in sick most often (35 percent) in the past year, followed closely by sales employees (34 percent).
• Employees in the information technology, retail and leisure and hospitality industries were least likely to call in sick (22 percent, 21 percent and 20 percent, respectively).

For more on the survey, click here.