Best TRUE reason for being late to work?

sagetracey

I'm sure most of us have slept through the alarm, had to get changed after the baby threw up on us, had the broken down car etc as reasons for being late for school or work. But what's your best or most unusual reason - it's got to be true!

I was late this morning because I was cycling to work and found a cow wandering along a 100kmh road at dawn. I called the police who asked me to stay with the cow to try and warn traffic. This is quite a busy road at this hour of the day.

15 minutes later the farmer turned up looking for his cow (he was grateful), 20 minutes later the cops arrived.

I got chilled (as I had already warmed up riding), and wet but at least there were no accidents.

stephc0711

I've been stuck behind tractors going 20 miles an hour countless times. Luckily, it's not that common now, since I leave for work at 4:30 am.

Miss♥Ivi

I'm in Miami. Land of the nut jobs.

I was late to work one morning because traffic was backed up in my neighborhood. Couldn't get out past the 4 way stop that leads to the main road. It turns out, someone had sacrificed chickens and had left them in the middle of that 4 way stop and cops weren't letting people through until they had it cleaned up.

Go figure :laugh:

stephc0711

That is awesome! How'd your boss handle the chicken sacrifice excuse?

Jain

I was trying to catch a budgie that had escaped from somewhere. Once I had caught it, I then had to figure out what to do with it. Eventually I found a shoebox, thank the gods it was bin day, & kept it in there till I got to work. One of my collegues kept birds so she took it & it settled in with it's new pals.
Never did find out where it had come from.

Miss♥Ivi

That is awesome! How'd your boss handle the chicken sacrifice excuse?

Oh she believed me lol...It's Miami haha

FlyByJuly

This is the most horrible reason I have been late to work. A dog ran out in front of me on a country road, in the dark. There was nothing I could do to avoid hitting him. I felt horrible. I pulled over and cried. Went and picked up my boyfriend, we went back and tried to wake the owners. I don't believe in hit-and-run and leave laying there. Couldn't wake them. I got a towel out of my truck and covered the poor dog. My bf went back later in the morning to talk to owners. Before he could even explain to them that his girlfriend hit the dog, the ahole says "Yeah, well, at least they had the decency to pull him off the road and cover him up." I cried off and on all day because I'd "killed" a dog.

sagetracey

This is the most horrible reason I have been late to work. A dog ran out in front of me on a country road, in the dark. There was nothing I could do to avoid hitting him. I felt horrible. I pulled over and cried. Went and picked up my boyfriend, we went back and tried to wake the owners. I don't believe in hit-and-run and leave laying there. Couldn't wake them. I got a towel out of my truck and covered the poor dog. My bf went back later in the morning to talk to owners. Before he could even explain to them that his girlfriend hit the dog, the ahole says "Yeah, well, at least they had the decency to pull him off the road and cover him up." I cried off and on all day because I'd "killed" a dog.

Oh, that is so sad! I hit a dog one day and felt really bad, too. The owner was there and took it to the vet. I rang the vet later to see how the dog was and the vet yelled at me because I hit the dog - it had run out in front of me from between parked cars. I didn't have a chance of missing it.

Tiff587

While I was getting ready for work my shower unit fell off the wall and hit my in the head. I fell onto the shower door and out the shower. It hurt a lot!! My house mate came running at noise and found me on the floor naked! :blushing: Awkward!
I cracked my head open and had to get the blood out of my hair before going to work. My boss sent me home without pay for being late! :sad: Bad day!

:drinker:

sirihermine

there once was a huge, angry bull in our garden. It had escaped the transportation to the slaughter house and decided to stay in our garden. Didn't go out of the door until the vet came and put it down... Scary moment, when you wake up and there's a huge bull looking though your living room window... *Shudder* (and I live in a city, so it's not like I'm used to seeing farm animals around, even cows scare me a little)

mikonei

I called in with a fractured toe, which wasn't the weird part. My boss asked what happened and I explained that I was going down the carpeted stairs in my socks and a moth flew in front of my face. I am terrified of moths, so I jerked back while swatting at it. My feet slipped out from under me, and while the rest of me slid down the stairs without harm, one toe managed to slip in between the bars in the railing where it bent back and fractured : / Such a giant dork.

Tiff587

I called in with a fractured toe, which wasn't the weird part. My boss asked what happened and I explained that I was going down the carpeted stairs in my socks and a moth flew in front of my face. I am terrified of moths, so I jerked back while swatting at it. My feet slipped out from under me, and while the rest of me slid down the stairs without harm, one toe managed to slip in between the bars in the railing where it bent back and fractured : / Such a giant dork.

:laugh: My brother did the same thing! x

chunk1691

i was once late for work because i had a perm on my hair and it went wrong, i looked awful and spent the whole morning crying, luckily my boss was very understanding and let me have a few hours off to go to a different hairdressers to get it sorted out, lol.

rdzilla

In Singapore the excuse "I didn't want to break a sweat" always applies.

JeninBelgium

there once was a huge, angry bull in our garden. It had escaped the transportation to the slaughter house and decided to stay in our garden. Didn't go out of the door until the vet came and put it down... Scary moment, when you wake up and there's a huge bull looking though your living room window... *Shudder* (and I live in a city, so it's not like I'm used to seeing farm animals around, even cows scare me a little)

I al actually sad that bull had to be put down- I do understand that if it was angry and out of contril but at the same time wish it could have found a good home, after all it escape slaughterhouse transport- at any rate being put down by the vet is bound to be a better death...

we have lots of cows near us- I love them -they will often walk alongside me if I am walking through pasture land

JeninBelgium

I have been stuck behind tractors many times- the worst incidence was when the tractors made me 4 hours late for work- - my former office is in the center of Brussels, and I had to drive through the European Union government district (EU parliament offices, plus all the organizations that frequent the same) anyway , a few years back, many Farmers were protesting some regulations and drove to Brussels on their tractors from France, Germany, the Netherlands, etc- the highway I take also extends to the Netherlands, France,Luxembourg - you get the idea- while I believe most of the farmers transporter their tractors on trucks for most of the way, by the time they reached my area they were driving their tractors directly on the road- speedlimit in my area is 120 km ph (about 70-75mph) and tractors generally do not reach that speed- well since it was on the news my company couldn't really give me a hard time about it! (Plus since trains and busses were on strike that day as well many of my other colleagues were just a late if they came to work at all!)

mrlazy1967

I once worked with a guy who was late because he slipped and fell into a canal

Amazon_Who

I went into labor.

iwannablean

I have no out-of-the box reasons for being late to work! They are the usual ones really.. But last week, when I broke all of my "reaching work late" records and reached work an hour and a half late, I wanted to tell my boss that I was training her in anger management. Like "am your today's module on anger management"! :P
Ofcourse, I never did that!

lorro

My car was written off in a crash on the way into work. The police dropped me off. Everyone was very suprised I was there and I was very suprised that they were so suprised

lorro

In Singapore the excuse "I didn't want to break a sweat" always applies.

Love that! :laugh:

lorro

OK I have another. I used to live in Jamaica where it was perfectly acceptable to say you were on "Jamaica Time". They even printed it in newpapers next to start times for events as a warning that lateness may well occur.

claire_90

aw my best isn't very exciting compared to these lol, I was over an hour late once though because a huge truck got stuck in an intersection and the poor young boy driving it couldn't do a 3 point turn to get out, so spent over an hour attempting to inch by inch turn his damn truck

DanL66712

I once missed a plane to fly to a meeting because the train I needed to get, which was the first one of the day, was cancelled. The reason given over the tannoy was that the train was cancelled because the driver had overslept and hadn't made it in to work. Amusing at a later time, but not when you need to catch a plane.

Oh! And after the Christmas party last year, I made it in to work 3 1/2 hours late because I couldn't get out of bed. Fortunately, I work in quite a relaxed office, so the punishment for being last in after a night out is you have to buy donuts for your entire team. Even better, it was the team christmas party that day, so I was only in work for about 30 minutes (I didn't even turn my laptop on) before we all went out for lunch and more drinkies!!

nowornever47

Have done the normal things: forgot to set the alarm the night before, forgot I needed gas on the way to work, etc.. but if I'm late nowadays, it's usually because I lose track of time sitting here, dilly-dallying having my morning coffee, while reading these awesome stories on mfp!! ha ha love it!! :laugh:

dubw

Absolutely True: Atlanta I-75 morning rush; a beer truck overturned, and cases of beer were everywhere. In the malay; people were stopping in the freeway and getting out of their cars to steal beer. Traffic came to a standstill. for an hour.

newbeetler

I was on my way to my final college presentation. All done up in suit, tie brand new white shirt.

I got stopped by the police driveing past the local event center who proceeded to check who i was and was it my car.

They then informed me that as the ruling party (Conservatives) at the time were holding their political conference in the event center they were going to proceed to strip my car down and search it for bombs (IRA were very active at the time). Even though I am english born and bred and have never even been to Ireland.

So everything came out.

Under the hood checking the dip sticks. All the cables came off the car.

The spare tyre and everything out the boot.

When they were finished they left it all on the side of the road and I had to put it all back in.

So I was 30 minutes late for my presentation covered in Oil and dirt over my nice new suit and tie.

Luckily I had the document producer form the police had given me and my lecturer let me give my presentation and marked me as if I had turned up prestine.

He even gave me an extra mark for dealing with an unknown situation and still giving a professional presentation.

lorro

Similar one to the above happened to a friend leaving work when she was a doctor in training. It was when junior docs had to do a 48hr shift. Royalty were visiting the hospital and the car park was closed shortly after she arrived at work. When she got out her's was the only car left and the police were taking it apart looking for explosives. Lol

Poetic_

My boss at my previous job was late one morning and told us as he was backing up in his drive way he saw an alligator behind him. So he had to "catch" it........

RDalton84

I had a hot iron plugged in (but turned off) and as I was turning around to leave the room my foot caught it and pulled it down off the ironing board and it landed on the top of my foot Had to call in because I couldnt wear any shoes

ket_the_jet

As far as I am concerned, there are only three reasons to be late for work:
1. Hung over
2. Entertaining company
3. General nonchalance

So quit with the "my car broke down" bull**** and tell your boss you were late because you just didn't care.
-wtk