by John P. Ribner

Excuses are like…well you know that old saying – “everybody’s got one.” Following are some crazy excuses used by salon operators to get out of work.

Deaths in the family, personal emergencies and illnesses – we all have legitimate reasons for occasionally needing a day off work. But then there are those people who unfortunately don’t put much of a priority on their job – those who think partying and boyfriends are the most important things in their lives. Like every other business owner, most salon pros have had a few employees like this. The excuses these workers give for missing a day or coming in late can be unbelievable...if only these people would put that kind of creativity and energy into doing their jobs!

“One former employee said she needed a day off to go to the doctor because she thought she had a brain tumor. Her reasoning for this was due to the fact that she had a slight headache and claimed she felt a small lump in her head. Since this was her second or third time calling in sick, we got rid of her. This is the same employee who showed up to work one day with bare feet and said, ‘I forgot my shoes. Can I go home and get them?’ And no, she didn’t end up having a brain tumor, either!”
Susan Lowes, Owner of Caribbean Sun Tanning, Springfield, PA

“We had an employee who did an excellent job and was promoted to shift supervisor, and her main responsibility was to manage the shift and the bed-cleaner staff. I came to the salon one night to find her gone; the bed-cleaner told me that she left to run an errand. When the employee got back, her excuse for leaving in the middle of the shift was, ‘You never said I couldn’t leave the salon.’ As a result of that experience, we now tell everyone they cannot leave the premises unless they are on break, and there is someone else there to be in charge. And yes, we fired that employee on the spot.”
Kris Selvidge, Co-owner of Beach Bums Tanning Salon, Knoxville, TN

“I left one of our employees in charge of the salon on a slow, weekend day because I had to drive to a town an hour away to pick up a dishwasher. I was just about there and my cell phone rang – it was the employee, and she said, ‘My cat just died and I’m a complete mess and can’t work anymore.’ Her dad called her to tell her this when she only had two hours left of her shift. When I arrived back at the salon, she had several friends there holding her as she sobbed hysterically.”
Tammy DeVore, Owner of Island Cove Swimwear & Tanning, Parksville, British Columbia Canada

“We recently had an employee ask for a week off because she and her family were taking their Spring Break vacation. I told her she could have the time off, and later ran into her father, who’s an old high school friend. I happened to ask him if they were still planning on taking their family vacation and he didn’t know what I was talking about. Because the employee lied to me, I had to fire her – if she’d lie to me about that, there’s no telling what else she might lie about. The funny thing was, her father was the one who suggested I fire her!”
Sandy Mitchell, Owner of Paradise Beach Tanning Resorts, Locust Grove, GA

“One Monday, an employee called in and said she wouldn’t be coming to work because she was in Arkansas, visiting her sick grandmother. We knew this was a lie because this employee’s mother also tanned with us, and she had told us that the grandmother had passed away a year ago. Since this employee didn’t speak to her father’s side of the family, we knew she was talking about her grandmother on her mother’s side. At the time, this employee was a college student and we just figured she had been partying too much on the weekend and didn’t want to come to work.”
Jennifer McCleland, Co-owner of Jamaican Me Tan, Rolling Prairie, IN

“Once, I received a call advising me that one of our managers didn’t open their store, so I drove over to that location to see what was going on. By the time I got there, the manager had arrived but she was hysterical, and her father was at the salon, comforting her. She said her boyfriend broke up with her and it caused her to have a panic attack, so she couldn’t work. Her father took her home and I ended up staying at the store until a replacement could be found.”
Rachel Mitchell, Regional Manager of Total Tan, Inc., Buffalo, NY

Apparently, some employees will try anything to get out of going to work! IST thanks these salon pros for sharing with us…if you’ve got a funny story, send it our way!

-Original art by Laura Rapcka