All work and no play make Jack a dull boy You don’t want to be Jack, do you? Well, nobody does and nobody can too. We are all humans and we all need some time off from our 9-5 jobs and have the day to ourselves or with our families. This reason, no matter how justified or legitimate it sounds, cannot be stated to your boss. You need a planned and well-framed excuse to put forward to your boss so that he has no choice but to believe you, pity you, and understand why you had to miss work. But planning a good excuse does not come about that easily. So, here is the article that gives some Good Excuses to Miss Work.
If you discover yourself in complete chaos of trying hard to form an excuse, if you want to take leave badly but just can’t put it forward to your boss, you’re reading the right article. A good excuse is an excuse that does not sound phony and provides a good, believable story. A good excuse should leave your boss with nothing to comment or question on, he should just feel sympathy for you. It should seem like a circumstance where you were left with no choice but to leave work. An excuse like that needs a lot of time and effort to think about. To stave you off from the mental exercise, here are some good excuses that you can use if you just want to do nothing and slug around in your pajamas on your lousy couch.
To know about it all, keep reading!
How to Pen Good Excuses Down
When thinking of a good excuse, you should always keep the following tips in mind. These tips will help you in crafting the most believable and legitimate excuse:
Try To Be As Honest As You Can
Yes, you read it right. Even if you’re not, still try to appear honest. If your excuse sounds made up, what’s the whole point? Avoid melodrama, stay away from any hyper exaggerations of your excuses or anything that seems too dramatic to be true, for instance, you woke up and your house was in flood or your entire house was on fire, oh c’mon?
Inform As Soon As Possible
If you want to be in your boss’s good book, stave off from telling him impromptu. Make it as quick as you can and inform as soon as you can. Informing at the last moment not only compels your boss to not believe you but also makes him haughty over you and wary of the next time you make an excuse.
Don’t Tell Too Much
Too much information is the perfect ingredient for shouting out to your boss that you are lying. Too much of the information tells him that your reason is not authentic and also gives him more to question and doubt upon. The lesser the information you give, the safer you are.
Look For The Perfect Day
You should remember that even though you’re taking leave, you still need to return to the same workplace once your leave ends. So, make sure you do not take leave on such a day or such a time when you know there’s a lot of work to achieve or the deadline is best near. Don’t make the day you take leave the worst day for your colleagues. If you take leave on a day that is not that heavy on work, it will be suitable for your colleagues as well and you will maintain a good relationship with them.
Be Authentic
Try to sound as genuine as you can. Do not make up stories, for example, do not hurt the same cousin’s grandma over and over again or have the same sister wedded every few months. Be as natural and as real as you can while penning down an excuse.
Provide Documentation
Wherever possible, provide documentation. If you’re sick, provide the medical reports or if someone in your family is sick, provide his medical certificate by the doctor. But if you’re too cautious about the documents and your boss doesn’t give too much attention, you may as well skip the documentation and say that the appointment or the meeting was last minute.
Cover Up For Your Work
Make sure you cover up for the work that will be left undone while you will be on your leave. If you are absent and your work remains left around, you will be the one blamed and will not have a good time when you return. So, divide your work between your team members and plan out how it will be achieved before taking your time off.
Provide Regular Updates
In situations where you do not mention the date as to when you will be returning to work, for instance, if you’re sick or have met with an accident, you should provide regular updates about your health conditions and how you’re doing so that your employers know when you would likely be returning.
I was robbed
This is one of those reasons no one can question. If you say that you were on your way but were robbed on the way, it shows that you wanted to cow but were left with no choice but to walk back home. This can happen to anyone anytime and also require no proof. How can you possibly prove that you were robbed? At the same time, it will earn you a lot of sympathy from your boss. Just say that you were on your way to the office but out of nowhere, came this crook who took away all your money, tore all your clothes and you had to ask someone to drop you home.
Mental Health Day
Mental health is becoming an issue of grave concern with every passing day. Especially, when you have a lot of work at hand and have been busy for a long time, you need some time off to give your mind a treat now and then. Taking leave for your mental health is a very legitimate and valid reason and will be granted very easily because your boss knows how strenuous work can be sometimes.
Babysitter on Leave
Well, you can’t help it, can you? If you’re a single mom this can be your all-time excuse. Everyone knows how hard it is to handle work and a baby at the same time. And if your babysitter is on leave, you need to take leave too. Babysitter not coming to work can be a last-minute problem and leave you with no other choice but to take leave for the day. So simply state that your babysitter is on leave and you’ll get your leave too!
Your car or bike got punctured on the way
You may make this excuse any day you like. If your way of commuting was hindered, there is no way you could have possibly made it to work. The only recluse left with you was to walk back home as you couldn’t in the work have fixed it yourself or call a mechanic right then. Your boss is not going to come to your home to see if your car or bike is punctured. He wouldn’t even bother to check if you have a car in the first place. This excuse will work wonders for you as this would come with no follow-up questions and you’ll be all good to go!
Illness
Illness can come to anyone anytime. No one can force you to go to work if you’re not feeling healthy. Every workplace prefers its employees to stay at their homes if they catch a contagious disease lest they spread it to the other employees and the entire workforce gets hampered. So, you can always use this old-work excuse of illness and state that you are suffering from fever, cough, cold, and what not to have a good day’s great in your bed. No one can blame you for getting ill, rather they will reward you with sympathies and get well soon wishes will soon be flooding your home.
Funeral in the family
The funeral is inevitable and uncontrollable. You can’t pretend someone’s funeral and you can’t help it if someone in your family has passed away. You have to be present in the funeral rites. Everyone understands that. You will also receive many sympathies and condolences from your boss and colleagues. The funeral is a very sensitive issue that does not welcome any questions or doubts over it. Your boss might remember the person you used as an excuse the last time and catch you red-handed. So, beware of this mistake. Otherwise, you’re good to go!
Family illness
Say your mother, father or spouse was severely ill and you were needed at home to look after them and care for them. There was no way you could’ve attended work. Tell them that everyone in your home had to go to their offices and workplaces and you were the only one who could stay at home and care for the ill. Well, that’s a story that can gather many soft hearts around you. They’ll sympathize, they’ll understand and they’ll even grant you further leave if you want.
Moving to a new home
If you’ve just shifted your house, there’s no way you could attend work that day. Tell them that you’ve recently moved to a new home and you were busy with the reallocation. The boss’s never going to check what address you have and where you have shifted. The reason is substantial enough to ask any further questions. They all know how hectic and troublesome a task moving is. So any day you want to take a leave, shift yourself to a new home!
Met with an accident
Meeting with an accident is justified as a reason to not attend work. Accidents happen all the time and there are a million accidental situations you can create like a car hit you or you collided with a bike and had to endure some minor injuries. This is a situation that gathers huge sympathy and makes the boss empathize with what you had to go through. You cannot prevent accidents from happening and everybody knows that. They know that it’s not your fault if you meet with one and easily grant you leave.
Had a sprain on my hand
A sprain or a strain in your hand is just what you need as an excuse to skip work as your hand is the most vital tool for work. It is your hand that you employ in taking all the notes in work. So it is always preferred to make up a sprain in the hand you write with. Because that hand is invalid, then what’s the point of attending work when you would not be able to make any notes or record any lectures in your journal. You can always tie a fake band around your hand to make the excuse look authentic and gain free sympathies.
Family emergency
A family emergency can be anything from an ill sibling to an old grandpa who had to be rushed to the hospital. A family emergency is a personal and understood excuse that causes no interrogation and doubt on the bosses’ part. They understand if it’s a family issue and somebody ill or old in your house. A family emergency is something you have to be there for no matter what all responsibilities you have, that is your foremost responsibility and everyone gets that. So the family excuse is gonna work fireworks for you!
Had a doctor’s appointment
Leaving work for a doctor’s appointment is a justified reason as going for regular check-ups is a must. If you have some illness or treatments going on like the braces on your teeth, you have a very good opportunity to use your doctor as your recluse. Everybody knows that if you have some perpetual illness or treatment going on, you will have to attend its appointments. There’s no question of counting you here as the boss knows that the reason why your skipping work was genuine and important.
Family function
Family functions are inevitable and super busy. You must attend to them and there are family functions all the time. It may be a birthday of some distant cousin or a housewarming party of some aunt that you had to attend. All these functions are family obligations and make up for some great excuses. When it comes to family and things relate to it, most bosses understand and grant you leave real easy. You just need to sound as confident and real as you can and you’re good to go.
Sibling’s wedding
We all know how jam-packed a wedding can be. From the first preparations to the last vows, weddings can be too much. And there’s no way you can handle both work and a family wedding on the same day. Just say that you had to be there for your sibling’s wedding and they’ll get you right away. Weddings are not one day’s task and require your time and effort. Skipping work for a sibling’s wedding would make for a perfect excuse, sometimes with bosses even asking you about the proceeding of the wedding.
Road jammed with snow
It’s winter and you’ve got an excuse eight there. During winter, roads are clogged with snow and transport inaccessible. So when it starts snowing, you know you’ve got a really good excuse to miss work for the upcoming days. During winter, everyone is struck by the tremendous snowfall especially if you live in a state where it snows real bad. You can always use that as your tool to help you take a day off from work and warm yourself up near the hearth with some delicious homemade cookies.
Couldn’t find a commute
It happens all the time that you cannot find a commute to your destination if you’re using public transport. Even if you’re not, who’s gonna check anyway? If you say something like you were waiting on the bus stand and kept waiting but nothing came by to get you to work, that is a valid enough reason with no fault of yours. You live in a far-off city away from work and the only way to get to work was the public bus which did not come that day. You were there on time but it was the bus which did not come. And you’ve got a wonderful story to narrate.
Your pet died
If you know that your boss is a pet lover, this excuse will do wonders for you. Tell him you had a pet, a cat, a dog, anything you like. And tell him that he died. He’ll not only sympathize with you but also feel for you. He may even offer you some condolences and forget all about your skipping work. People love their pets even more than they love human beings. People understand that the loss of a pet can have a dire result on its owner. Hence this can act as your savior when nothing else would work.
Out of station
Going out of the station is reasonable and valid. If you aren’t there in the city, there’s no way you can make it to work. Your reason can be anything from visiting an old grandmother to going out of place for some personal emergency. You can make up any reason as to why you were out of the station. There are several reasons why a person may have to go someplace else and bosses understand them totally. Sometimes they won’t even ask you why you were out of the station, just stating it is enough.
Bowel disorder
Just say that you had a hard time in the washroom that morning and they’ll want no more details, ask no further questions. Bowel disorders or conditions are the last issues someone would like to discuss with you. At the same time, it is very common and can happen with anyone at any time. So this excuse can be your perfect recluse when you can’t have some time off work as you would not be troubled with any follow-up questions after that will help you get away with an amazing story.
Medical test
Medical tests and physical exams are necessary duties and often take up an entire day. They also make up for very good excuses. Any day you don’t want to go to work you can state that you had your monthly medical examination which was important for you to take. Medical tests are something that bosses cannot scold you on as it is a necessity and they can’t get in you for looking after yourself. How would you ever attend work if you’re not physically fit to do so, right? So use this excuse and you’re all set to enjoy your day off work.
Traffic jam
Traffic jams are the greatest hurdle in any commuter’s journey and it is very commonplace too. If you say something like you were out on your way to work but met with never-ending traffic, they will not only believe you but also get you and understand you because this is something that happens with them too. It is not a silly excuse but a legitimate reason. And if the traffic reports on the daily news and radio also talk about it, your point has just been made stronger. So whenever the radio reports heavy traffic, you know you’ve been granted a holiday.
Bad weather
Bad weather can be the best excuse as it is unpredictable and uncontrollable. Since nobody wants you to get to work all drenched in rain or covered with snow, the weather is what can save you on days when you don’t feel like going to work. This kind of excuse works best if you live quite far away from your work and the bosses have no idea about the weather conditions there. Just state that the weather was not suitable for you to come to work and they’ll have nothing to do about it. This can happen with anyone and is easily trusted.
Kid emergency
Many people who work also have kids and when you have kids, there are a hundred things that come along. You can make up any excuse from taking your kid for a regular checkup to getting him/her vaccinated. Your boss knows that bringing up and rearing a child is a wholesome job altogether and you need to have days off to look after it. So, you have all the understanding ears with you when you mention that you had a kid emergency, had to rush him to hospital for his fever or his continuous puking. Anything, put anything there with your kid and you’re good to go.
Allergic reaction
Say you are a peanut and then you went nuts! Many people in America suffer from a peanut allergy and it is very common. It is a near-fatal allergy for which you do need a day or two’s off as prescribed by the doctor. Allergic reaction is a thing you cannot control and something that can happen anytime. Tell your boss that you were ready for work one fine morning, you sat at the breakfast table and your mother gave you the wrong energy bar by mistake which had peanuts in it and you started choking. It’s fortunate that you are alive to tell the story, and that eight there, you’ve got the perfect excuse. Never in a million years will the boss be able to find that it was a lie because even if you don’t have it you can always imitate one.
Wisdom tooth emergency
We all know how painful and severe those wisdom teeth are. And that happens with everyone. Every one of us at some stage of our lives has to go through the blues of toothache and every one of us knows how horrific an experience can be. So the wisdom tooth excuse is the best excuse to save you from a harsh scolding because he or she too knows what throbbing pain it causes in your gums. So you’ve got an excuse there along with a lot of sympathy and care from your bosses.
Conclusion
It’s okay to take some time off. It’s okay if you want to lean back, pause for a moment and relax one day. While it’s always better, to be honest, not all bosses are empathizing and cordial and you can end up bad if you come up with some silly reason as to why you skipped work like you were just busy partying all night or wanted to hang out with your friends. We’re sure these excuses will help you get the day off without any sort of berating and you’ll remember these days with a smile on your face 10 or 20 years from now.
