Running Late?

Most outrageous reasons people give for being late to work

CareerBuilder conducted its annual survey of hiring managers. The results include the top four most common excuses for tardiness:

· Traffic, 31%

· Lack of sleep, 18%

· Bad weather, 11%

· Getting kids to school or daycare, 8%

No surprises there. The fun began when CareerBuilder asked hiring managers to provide the most outrageous excuses given by employees for being late. CareerBuilder shares the ten best answers:

1. Employee’s cat had the hiccups.

2. Employee thought she had won the lottery (she didn’t).

3. Employee got distracted watching the TODAY Show.

4. Employee’s angry roommate cut the cord to his phone charger, so it didn’t charge and his alarm didn’t go off.

5. Employee believed his commute time should count toward his work hours.

6. Employee claimed a fox stole her car keys.

7. Employee’s leg was trapped between the subway car and the platform (turned out to be true).

8. Employee said he wasn’t late because he had no intention of getting to work before 9:00 a.m. (his start time was 8:00 a.m.)

9. Employee was late because of a job interview with another firm.

10. Employee had to take a personal call from the state governor (turned out to be true).