Work excuses
Excuses for a day off, an early finish or a sick day, plus the email lines and job titles that go with them.
Excuses and email
Excuses
For getting out of a day, a meeting or the last hour before 5. Each excuse carries our rating of how many questions it invites, and the sick day list adds the rules on proof in the US, UK and Australia.
- Get out of work
Excuses for a day or a meeting, rated by the questions they invite
- Leave work early
Reasons to leave early that hold up, and how to tell your boss
- Call in sick
Sick day excuses, what to say, and the proof rules in the US, UK and AU
For the lines around an absence: the sign-off on the email you send before you go, and the out of office reply that answers while you’re away.
- Email sign-offs
Sign-offs from polite to unhinged, with what each one means
- Out of office messages
Out of office messages from professional to unhinged, ready to paste
Looking busy
For the days you’re at your desk with nothing due, and for keeping Microsoft Teams from switching you to Away.
- Look busy at work
The moves people use to look busy, ranked by what each one costs
- Keep Teams active
Why Teams goes yellow, the setting that keeps it green, what bosses see
Titles
For the line under your name: funny job titles, and a generator that makes up a new one.
- Funny job titles
Titles for the jobs every office has, with what each one does
- Job title generator
A random grand title, with what the job is in plain words
Time off
Why people need work excuses
78% of US workers leave some of their paid time off unused, and 49% get nervous asking for it. The days are there. The asking is the hard part, and an excuse gets you the day without it.
Time off without asking
Some skip the asking. 46% of Americans aged 18 to 34 have taken time off without permission because of burnout, and 36% have faked being online while they dealt with family matters.
Excuses that take one line
Plenty of moments at work need one short line instead of a story. At the end of an agreed early finish, “leaving already” gets “yes” and nothing more, and the excuses to leave work early cover the days you need a reason. The December collection for the boss’s present gets “not in my budget”. A meeting you’d rather miss loses to a recurring block in your calendar with a name too dull to join.