Six Best Excuses for Being Late to Work

If you are running late for work and need a a good excuse for not being at work on time, some excuses work better than others. A good excuse should - 

• Be believable.
• Present the situation as something you could not predict or control.
• Be something that obviously requires your immediate attention, hence why you're late.

Here are some good examples:

1. The key broke off in your door as you were leaving for work. You had to call your landlord and make sure you weren't leaving your house unlocked, that's totally unsafe!
2. You or your neighbors dog escaped out the front door that morning and you had to help catch it. You couldn't just let your poor dog get hit by a car!
3. You got stuck behind a train on your drive in to work and it was a long-ass train.
4. Plumbing problems - Your toilet was backed up and overflowing, you had to get that shut off and mopped up before the water did any property damage.
5. Your hemorrhoids are acting up and your doctor ordered you to take a long warm soak in a saltwater bath. You should be able to make it in after lunch.
6. Car trouble or bad traffic are classic excuses because they work, but be careful because it can be easy to accidentally overuse these ones.

Generally, the more embarrassing the excuse you are willing to admit to (like hemorrhoids), the better. No one wants to admit to having the worst diarrhea ever, so if you are willing to admit to something most folks would rather not, it helps make you seem more believable. Be careful when using an excuse that could be easily proven with a photo from your phone, like say a popped car tire. A tricky boss might ask you to send them a photo.

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Use the Decoy Effect to Influence Your Boss' Decision-Making

Let's say you need to present two different options to someone in a position of authority. Perhaps you need to present two alternate business plans to your boss, or maybe you're trying to get your fiancé to decide between two possible honeymoon locations. 

While you may have your own preference among the options present, there's no guarantee the deciding party will see the situation as you do. 

Is there anything you can do to nudge the decider over to your side? Sometimes yes, via the Decoy effect.

How it works: Let's pretend you are presenting two different business plans (options A & B) to your boss. You believe that option A is the best course of action, but you fear your boss will select option B. Like anyone making a decision, your boss must weigh the upsides and downsides of both options to determine which is the better course of action.

To employ the Decoy effect on your decision-maker in question, you must introduce a third option. Option C will serve as a decoy option and must possess two qualities:

• It must share a relevant quality with the other two options, but be inferior to both.
• it must share a second relevant quality with the other options that is inferior to your preferred option (A) but superior to the non-preferred option (B).

Option C will not be a desirable choice because both options A and B are superior to it in some desirable way, yet option C will still be superior to B on some other important aspect. The presence of option C makes option B look worse relative to option A, increasing the likelihood that the decider will ultimately choose option A.

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Coworker/Boss Gift Ideas

Stumped on what to get your coworker or boss for their birthday, Christmas, or some other occasion? You will need to do just a little bit of basic research on the coworker/boss in question in order to find a good gift.

• Do you know their hobbies, their passions? Is there something you can give the person that both fits your budget and that you can be pretty sure he or she will enjoy? If your boss is into photography, you can't go and buy him a new camera, for example. But if your coworker likes comedy, for example, buy her some tickets to the local comedy club. If your boss is a coffee or tea aficionado, you can probably safely buy him a variety pack of different flavors. Make sure you know a little bit about what you are buying, however, if your boss likes fine wine but you don't know the first thing about buying wine, either get some help from a third party with some knowledge on the subject.
• Is this coworker passionate about a particular cause or social issue?  Make a small donation to a cause you know he or she will appreciate, such as feeding the hungry or a no-kill animal shelter. Even if she or he doesn't love the gift, they can't show it without looking like a horrible human being that hates charity.
• Can you make anything? Make them a batch of cookies or brownies.  It doesn't cost too much money but the effort you made will come across and shows that you care.  Anyone can throw money at a problem, but spending your time to make something shows another level of caring.
• Is this person a complete blank slate of a human being who seems to lack any passion or personality whatsoever? Perhaps the person is very introverted and hard to get to know.  Well, you'll have to go with a safe choice like a gift card.  See if you can get a gift card or certificate for a local restaurant they like to go for lunch.
• You don't have to spend a ton of money to show that your care.  What's important is to show that you put a little bit of effort and thought into the purchase.

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