by I. Michael Akbar

Created on: February 05, 2008   Last Updated: December 25, 2009

I don't suggest that you make a habit of calling in sick. The best 'excuse', of course, is actually being sick. If you decide you have a good enough reason, other than illness, to risk calling in sick,  it may be hard to come up with a good excuse, especially if you just need the one day off. Here is the catch, when you make your story sound bad enough to be really believable, the ruse is somehow made questionable when you show up the next day in full health.

I have been on both sides of the phone when it comes to sick day call-offs. As a boss in charge of training new employees in for an entry level position, many of whom were working their first jobs, I heard the gamut of excuses and pleadings. Some of the worst ones included: "I had to wait in line to get Al B. Sure tickets", "My apartment building burnt down" (as Caller ID showed that they were calling from their home phone) and "My mother is hung over and I can't leave her alone." I have also been a single father and I have to admit to taking the proverbial "mental health day" on rare occasions.

Believe it or not, most bosses are not stupid and many times they will have some clue if you really are too sick to come to work or not. But believe it or not a good boss just might appreciate the effort you put into coming up with a good story, or at least making the old standbys sound realistic. In other words, you might get credit for making it entertaining for your boss. For example, I used to live about a block away from a hospital. Once, when it was really important that I take off and I knew I would not get a personal day, I took the trouble of going to the emergency room to use the phone to call in. I waited until they were paging a doctor to dial the last digit of the phone so the boss would hear the, "Dr. Thurmond, please call Radiology" in the background. I explained I had been there half the night with a sick child. I know, it was shameless and I still feel a twinge of guilt, but it worked, almost. My boss, with whom I had a good working relationship, said to me the next day, "The hospital background noise was a nice touch, how was Opening Day?" Darn, he knew I was a big Cleveland Indians fan!

Most of the time, you want to make your excuse good enough that the boss doesn't even want to take the chance on your coming in. You want to make your cough sound real enough to make your boss just feel the germs flying out of your mouth. The trick? Try drinking a little whole milk, then taking a big swig

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>