Hair disaster, pet's nervous breakdown among sick day excuses

These are among the most ridiculous sick day explanations people have given bosses, according to a survey by an employment website.

But before you take your boss for a ride, know that seventeen per cent of employers have fired workers for giving a fake excuse, News.Com.Au reported.

The survey of almost 2500 managers and 4000 workers in the US found 29 per cent of employers have checked up on an employee to see if they were really sick, usually by calling them later in the day or asking for a medical certificate.

Almost one in five (18 per cent) of employers have had other staff call a person they thought was chucking a sickie.

Thirty per cent of people said they have called in sick when they weren't actually ill.

Next to being genuinely sick, the most common reasons employees have taken the day off are because they just don't feel like going to work, or because they felt like they needed to relax, the survey by CareerBuilder found.

Twenty-two per cent have taken a day off so they can make it to a doctor's appointment, 16 per cent have done so to catch up on sleep and 15 per cent have chucked a sickie to run some errands.

However, among the most ridiculous excuses employees gave for a sick day was that they forgot they had been hired for the job.

Employees also said their dog was having a nervous breakdown or their dead grandmother was being exhumed for a police investigation.

Some employees said a bird bit them or that they got sick from reading too much.

Some workers took a sick day for being upset after watching "The Hunger Games" while some claimed to be suffering from a broken heart.

Some employees made the excuse that their hair turned orange from dying it at home while some said their girlfriend poked them in the eye.