Claiming your dog ate your homework never got you anywhere as a child, so why would you try it now? Yet people do. One employee said he couldn't make it to work because his 12-year-old daughter stole his car.

Another called in sick with a headache from going to too many garage sales. One employee claimed he had caught a cold from a puppy.

"We've been running this survey for several years now, so it feels as if we've seen every excuse," says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at the jobs website CareerBuilder. "However, there are always a few that truly make us scratch our heads."

CareerBuilder does an annual survey on absenteeism, and this year the poll reached out to more than 4,300 workers and 2,600 employers.

It revealed that 29 per cent of employees have skipped at least one work day this year by claiming to be sick when they weren't—and some of them offered preposterous excuses.

The survey collected about 2,500 outlandish excuses that hiring managers and human resource managers heard this year, and a panel sifted through them to find the 15 most unusual, never-before-seen excuses.

"Any time a worker feels he or she needs to devise a fictitious reason for taking a day off, there's likely an underlying trust issue with a manager," Haefner says. "But often times workers call in sick when they're just mentally exhausted and need a day away from the office."

Stress and fatigue may be why workers occasionally need a day to rest and unwind—but errands and plans with family and friends are among the top reasons they gave for making up phony excuses.

Haefner suggests being honest and timely when calling in sick. "Lying always puts you in a precarious position and is never advisable," she says. "If you're sick, let them know promptly, and follow any other policies as prescribed by the employer."

When it comes to informing the employer about a sick day, some workers said they bypassed a phone call to the boss by using digital communications.

Twenty-four percent said they had e-mailed and 11 per cent had sent a text message notifying their employer that they were taking a sick day.

"How one notifies the employer will likely depend on a manager's individual preferences, but there are advantages to digital communications, as well," Haefner says.

"If you wake up with a fever, a call may not be received as quickly as an e-mail or text when your manager very well could be in the car or on the train. Regardless, it's probably best to follow up with a call."

If you're communicating digitally because you think it's easier to fib by text or e-mail, you might be in trouble. Twenty-eight percent of employers have checked up on an employee by calling the employee, having another employee call him or her, driving by the employee's home or requiring a doctor's note.

So beware: Just because you've come up with a clever or unusual excuse doesn't mean you won't get caught. No fewer than 15 per cent of employers say they've fired a worker for missing work without a proven excuse.