Creative Excuses People Give For When They Are Late To Work

By R S Ali

Mar 31, 2016 11:34 AM EDT

We've all been there. Hopping on with one shoe as we grab that slice of toast in our mouth, napkins stuffed in our pocket and yelling at our kid to hurry up? Yes, we've all been late. But when we are, do we use the clichéd old excuses, or do we get creative? Monster comes up with some hilarious, creative - and epic fail excuses that real people have given for when they get late to work.

Mind you, you don't always need an explanation. If you're rarely ever late, for example. Or when you have a genuine explanation that is also kind of obvious. In cases like those, the management (provided you don't work for the kind of boss in "The devil wears Prada") will understand and might not even ask you why.

But be late a few times in a row and you will get asked for an explanation.

First, there are the standard, non-creative justifications we come up with when we really don't have the brain-space to actually come up with something, or we get caught in the moment. I overslept. My spouse is sick, so I had to drop the kids off to school. My cat went missing. Then there is the classic: I got stuck in traffic. Or my car/the bus broke down.

And then there the unexpected, creative excuses people come up with. Like I got mugged/beaten/stabbed. (All excuses used by actual people!). Or I fell asleep on the train on my way home yesterday, so I ended up somewhere else and couldn't get home that night.

Here are some more fun ones: my children had locked me out of the house, so I had to wait for the locksmith. I cut my own hair and messed it up so I had to find a salon that opened at this time to fix it.

Experts think that as far as acceptance of excuses go, even the standard ones, it all depends on what kind of a reputation you have: whether you keep good work ethic, whether you are always late, what kind of a person and employee you are in general etc.

Also, some managers even believe that excuses don't matter, because they understand that some can be private, personal matters. They prefer to focus on whether the problem is a chronic, recurrent one - so watch out that you don't get late too often instead of coming up with an excuse.