Having a job may be the latest status symbol for Americans in the times of massive layoffs, but many still skip work with no valid reasons and one in three employees call in sick when they are not.Besides, workers conjure innovative excuses for not coming to the office - such as not wanting to lose the parking space in front of his house or having nothing to wear because the wife burnt all the clothes.These are findings of an annual survey on absenteeism by the largest online job site CareerBuilder.com of the US, which revealed that 33 per cent or one-third of workers called in sick to office, when they were well at least once in the year.While a majority of the employers said they usually did not question the reason for absenteeism, 31 per cent of them checked up on an employee calling sick to the office.Besides, 18 per cent of employers said they have fired a worker for missing work without a valid excuse, found the survey that covered over 6,800 employees and 3,300 employers.In the survey, nearly one in ten (nine per cent) workers who lied when calling in sick admitted doing so to miss a meeting, buy some time to work on a project that was already due, or to avoid the wrath of a boss or colleague.Other reasons cited for missing work included the need to "relax or recharge" (30 per cent), doctor's appointment (27 per cent), catch up on sleep (22 per cent), personal errands (14 per cent), household work (11 per cent) or spending time with family and friends (11 per cent).Besides, nearly one in three (34 per cent) said they "just did not feel like going to work that day."
