What are the worst call in excuses you've heard?

Nurses General Nursing

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I've heard some doozies for call INS to work. 1. Dog having puppies 2. I'm having a miscarriage when I could hear a party in the background 3. I'm tired 4. I worked yesterday 5. Out of gas 6. I'm going out of town

just to name a few

what excuses have you heard for someone to use to not come to work

Excuses heard in another career life:

"Can't work tonight. I tried a new deodorant, and it's not working." I swear I'm not making that up. It was the most preposterous excuse from a man known for preposterous excuses. I asked him to repeat it because I wasn't sure I'd heard him right. Then I put down the phone and laughed out loud.

"Um, I really don't feel well today, but I didn't want to use sick time. So I'll just be out back. I really don't want to do any work." A classic attempted more than once -- and unceremoniously rejected -- by a chronic whiner nicknamed "The Spigot" by management. Whenever you'd ask him to put in overtime, he'd cry, literally. I'm talking about a 40-year-old man. Everyone knew when I was going to give him an assignment because I'd pick up the box of Kleenex on my desk before walking across the room.

"I won't be in on time. I'm interviewing housekeeper candidates this afternoon, and I really need to focus on hiring someone." Phoned in by 22-year-old college grad heavily subsidized by mom and dad.

"I'm going to be a few hours late. I've got a flat tire." Really? A blowout for the fifth time in two weeks? We're doing the math, dude.

"I'm gonna need three days off for bereavement." "Oh, I'm sorry. Who died?" "My wife's father." "Your wife's father? I didn't know you were married." "I'm not. Let's just go with it."

I really never want to be a manager again.

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Specializes in new to NICU.
I always keep them simple and to the point. If it is not an illness, I will say it's a personal issue I must address. If they want to argue, I don't engage.

This is what I do, too.

I had one girl call in saying that she had a sore throat and stuffy nose but it definitely wasn't allergies because she had never had allergies before. I laughed. Just couldn't help it. She came in the next day and I told her next time she calls in just say "I won't be in for my shift today." The way our system works, it doesn't matter if you are in ICU with H1N1 or want to mow your grass cause it's not raining today. It's not that I'm insensitive but if you aren't going to be here I have to stop what I am doing to find someone to work for you.

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Specializes in CT stepdown, hospice, psych, ortho.

so as uncomfortable as the following situation can be, I'm not positive its cause to call in for a 1500 - 2300 shift when you obviously already knew you had a problem.

"I can't come in, I'm really constipated."

...

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Specializes in med surg nursing.

Working too much isn't considered insomnia....I think:rolleyes:

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Specializes in med surg nursing.
Have you ever experienced Insomnia? I have and it sucks. I had gotten only about 16 hours of sleep after 96 hours and I still had two shifts to go last week. In my book, Insomnia is a real excuse.

What nurse doesn't have insomnia!!!! This particular nurse is young, single no children and helps out part time at the family pub!

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I want my nurse well-rested. I don't need an insomniac calculating my meds.

Personally, I think if you're given paid time off or sick time as part of your compensation, you shouldn't have to offer any excuse for your absence, as long as you don't abuse the benefit. My old boss required me to ask every caller for an excuse, and I hated doing it.

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I want my nurse well-rested. I don't need an insomniac calculating my meds.

Personally, I think if you're given paid time off or sick time as part of your compensation, you shouldn't have to offer any excuse for your absence, as long as you don't abuse the benefit. My old boss required me to ask every caller for an excuse, and I hated doing it.

That's the good thing about my new job. PTO is for whatever. You get 5 days and you don't need to give an excuse, just I'm PTOing. Of course you need to call in a couple hours before unless its an emergency.

I also think this is one of those jobs where sometimes you need a mental health day.

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Specializes in Adult Oncology.

I called in once because I had gotten skunked, twice. And I had to wait for the animal control people to come capture the skunk after my dogs had "mostly" killed it because this had happened in the daylight hours (which is not usual for skunks) to make sure it didn't have rabies.

Our case mananger's dog had gotten skunked, and she came to work that morning and her boss SENT her home because she smelled so bad.

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I had to use the excuse "dog died" because it was true. My dog was old, got sick that weekend, stayed up with him for almost a night and a day, very little sleep for me, and had to have him put to sleep later that weekend. I was not fit in any way to go in and pass meds.

I also had to use the excuse that I had accidentally crammed a piece of wood up under my thumbnail and had to go to the emergency room to get it out.

My thumb had had several shots in it to get it dead and was therefore very swollen. I was unable to pass meds under that condition also, the next day it was better and I was back at work.

Crazy stuff does happen to people sometimes. Might seem like a stupid excuse but would you have me in there passing meds to your grandma after I'd had no sleep during the weekend my dog died? I hope you would not want that.

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Specializes in LPN, Peds, Public Health.
I had to use the excuse "dog died" because it was true. My dog was old, got sick that weekend, stayed up with him for almost a night and a day, very little sleep for me, and had to have him put to sleep later that weekend. I was not fit in any way to go in and pass meds.

I also had to use the excuse that I had accidentally crammed a piece of wood up under my thumbnail and had to go to the emergency room to get it out.

My thumb had had several shots in it to get it dead and was therefore very swollen. I was unable to pass meds under that condition also, the next day it was better and I was back at work.

Crazy stuff does happen to people sometimes. Might seem like a stupid excuse but would you have me in there passing meds to your grandma after I'd had no sleep during the weekend my dog died? I hope you would not want that.

True true... but it seems like there are crazy things happening to the same people over and over and over.... it is still pretty funny to hear some of them though... Like "I cant come to work today, I have to take my son to the Dr. No biggie, right? But we all know her children are grown :)

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Here's one... not in nursing but in my other career as well as long ago. I had started a new job and at the end of the first week my boss had called off that day. She said she had got her hairbrush stuck in her hair. That, it took so long to get it out that she thought it would be a waste to drive in. We had to prep for a HUGE client presentation for the following day. I ended up pulling an 18 hour day to complete all. Yes, I quit after the presentation. I told the president too. She got fired after a few months, turns out she was a relative of his but that in the end was not enough reason to keep her.

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These are hilarious! A girl called into my old job one time b/c her truck had been "stolen". Turns out, she was at a party and parked the truck somewhere and then the next morning she forgot where she left it and just assumed someone stole it:rolleyes:

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