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First of all, the excuse needs to be appropriate to the job. If you are an extremely valuable asset, then your excuse must be very creative and unassailable. If you have union protection or have sick time as part of your compensation, your excuse does not need to be anything more than "I am sick and won't be coming in". It is not difficult to get a doctor's note if you need one. Most doctors are happy to take the co-pay, listen to a few forced coughs, and give you a day off or two.

But if you are an "invaluable" employee, you will be asked to suck it up and work through your sickness, or else telecommute from home if that is an option. If you truly want a day off, you need to put forth a good amount of effort. All of this assumes that you don't really have a good reason, such as a death in the family or a real sickness. If you want to go to the game, or fishing, following these tips should do help you get it without getting the evil eye when you return, or worse a black mark on your next review.

First, make plans in advance. If your friend calls you with court-side seats the night before the game, you will be hard-pressed to gather enough of an excuse, so avoid these types of last ditch sick calls. If you plan on using the sickness of a family member, prepare by letting some co-workers know how upset you are about the sickness days or weeks before the day you plan off, and accelerate your worries as the time approaches. The same with personal sickness; coughs and sniffles a few days before, followed up by trips to the bathroom to throw up or simply sitting in your office/cubicle looking miserable and pale. Don't eat anything and/or don't sleep the night before. Exhaustion and hunger look remarkably like sickness.

If you set things up properly or have a compassionate boss, you will be checked on, or even ideally asked if you need time off. If this happens, you are in the clear. Just indicate how regretful you are to miss work and how hard you will work when you get back. This doesn't even need to be true, as you can always use the after-effects of the sickness as an excuse for not being sensational at work. But with as much sincerity as you can, talk about how much you hate to let your team down, and hope everyone can manage without you, all of which hopefully is true!

The next step is execution of the sick call itself. If it is sickness in the family, call in suitably distracted and saddened. It should be an uncle or cousin, stay clear of parents or close relatives.

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