Comments on: Locked in the Car Trunk? CareerBuilder’s Most Outrageous Excuses for Being Late to Work

By: arachnid

arachnid — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:52:53 +0000

I wasn’t going to work, but I was late for a family function. Why? I walked into a huge spider web. I was too busy making sure I didn’t drop my pies, that I had my keys, purse, that my husband had what he was suppose to, etc. I was looking back at him and when I turned back to face forward I walked straight into it. We live in the country and we have HUGE spiders. INCHES ACROSS, not the little house spiders most people are use to. I freaked out, dropped everything, ran back into the house. I was ripping my clothes off as I went. Yes, I took a shower. No one cared that I was late but they did care that they had to eat store bought pies. They also spent the rest of the day laughing about it because my husband had to give them a “play by play”. Lesson learned…make my husband go out the door first.

By: HR_Renae

HR_Renae — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:27:44 +0000

The truth of the matter is, I think flexibility is important when you are dealing with employees’ schedules. However, if you have an employee who shows up late every day and doesn’t do their work or put forth an effort, I believe there is a problem. The key to this is creating schedules that work though, not just having employees continuously showing up late for work. I have never been an “early bird” myself, and I appreciate the flexibility of being able to come in a little later in the morning so long as I do quality work in the office and because I work better this way, I’m always willing to stay later in the day. Everyone is different, so I believe employers should take that into consideration when making schedules, etc. If the work being done allows for some flexibility, I think talking to the employees about what works for them and under what structure they will be most efficient will bode well for everyone involved. I realize there are some positions that intently require a specific early morning schedule, and that is a situation in which clear communication with employees will hopefully go a long way.

By: Sadistic Manager

Sadistic Manager — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:54:55 +0000

Re: the importance of showing up on time… Some industries are sensitive. I can see why my office, for example, needs people to show up on time. We deal with people across the country, and projects are time-sensitive enough that I might need to know exactly when someone’s going to show up so I can get status on something.

At the same time, I only enforce the overbearingly strict timekeeping policies because it’s a company requirement. As long as people show up around the same general time each day, I don’t really care when.

Schedules, for reasons that have yet to be satisfactorily explained to me, aren’t published to the staff in my office. So, I’ve suggested cheating the system to my managers on occasion.

Have a rock star employee who always shows up twenty minutes late on the dot, always gives you eight or more hours a day, and does almost twice as much work as everyone else in the eight hours she’s there? Sneak into the timekeeping system and move her start time back thirty minutes. All of a sudden you have a rock star who’s early every day.

Keep the pitfalls of this in mind, though; if she transfers out of your department, you’ll have to tell her what you did and warn her she might not be so lucky in her new position.

By: Amy Chulik

Amy Chulik — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:18:56 +0000

Thanks for the responses, all!

Chris, to address your question, I think you bring up a good point. But while I may agree that different people work well in different structures/time requirements/office settings, the reality is that many companies do in fact care, and many have pretty strict standards. I also think that having an open and honest work relationship may prevent some situations like this from occurring.

I would love to hear from others on this, though — why *does* it matter? With more employers allowing flexible schedules, is being “on time” by normal standards a trend that’s diminishing? Are employers doing themselves a disservice by not being flexible, or not? Thoughts?

By: HR Good_Witch

HR Good_Witch — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:03:50 +0000

What a great selection of disasters and dilemmas. My fave above: “I’m in the way if I show up on time.” Whoa – dude…. I wouldn’t advertise to your boss that you are just in the way when you actually show up! Arrangements can be made to get you out of the way-permanently!

By: Sadistic Manager

Sadistic Manager — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 04:03:49 +0000

… presented with the same line today, I’d probably have the same response.

No idea what happened there…

By: Sadistic Manager

Sadistic Manager — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 04:02:45 +0000

I have to admit I laughed at some of these.

Wildest one I’ve gotten? “I couldn’t come back after lunch yesterday because I had to be in court for moral support for my daughter, because she was testifying against the people who kidnapped her and sold her into slavery.”

When asked why she didn’t call: “They don’t let you use cell phones in court.”

I was a brand new manager at the time, and didn’t have the tact and verbal control I do now, so my response was “… and you really expect me to buy that?” Although truthfully, if I were

By: Chris Ferdinandi - Renegade HR

Chris Ferdinandi - Renegade HR — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 04:40:09 +0000

Employees who are late for work… honestly, do people really give a shit? I mean, if you’re getting your work done, and you’re doing it well, who cares?

If you work retail sales or you’re a doctor, yes, schedules matter. But if you’re a creative designer or accountant or whatever, how does it impact your ability to do the job?