The Best Excuses for Being Late to Work

New Jersey,  what’s the best excuse you’ve ever given for being late for work?

A new national survey by Careerbuilder,com  puts traffic on top with 39 per cent of those surveyed. There’s nothing like that helpless feeling  of sitting in traffic knowing you’re going to be late for work. Next up, lack of sleep at 19 per cent, followed by problems with bad trabsportation at 8 per cent. 7 per cent blame the weather, 6 percent are late due to dropping children at daycare or school and fifteen per cent of employees  of employees admit to arriving late for work at least once a week.

But there are other more unusual excuses like...

• A zebra running on the highway was holding up traffic (turned out to be true).

• An employee woke up on a front lawn two blocks from his home.

• Dog ate my homework was not an excuse, but cat stuck in the toilet was.

• An employee accidentally put glue in her eye instead of contact lens solution.

• A hole in the roof allowed rain to fall on the alarm clock, making it malfunction.

• Worker thought Halloween was a paid holiday.

Two of the top five reasons for being late have to do with traffic and transit and are particularly applicable in New Jersey, the most congested state in America.

"Most employers understand that occasionally things pop up and cause employees to be behind schedule," noted Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "The trouble comes when tardiness becomes a habit. Employees who are often late should consider regularly checking the weather forecast for their commute, setting up alerts from any public transportation they use or getting more done the night before so they're not rushed in the morning."

How often are you late for work. What’s the wildest excuse you’ve ever given?