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Need a reason to address at-home safety as well as workplace safety with employees? By some excuses workers have used to skip work, it seems like their homes are pretty dangerous places.

CareerBuilder has released its annual survey of the most unusual excuses for missing work. And some of the situations sound downright dangerous:

• A chicken attacked my mom.
• My finger is stuck in a bowling ball.
• My foot is caught in the garbage disposal.
• I burned my mouth on pumpkin pie.

Could it be that the same person used all four excuses? “A chicken attacked my mom. I grabbed a bowling ball to throw at the chicken, and my finger got stuck in it. The chicken jumped into the kitchen sink, so I did too, and my foot got stuck in the garbage disposal. I was so depressed with the whole situation that I decided to eat a lot of pumpkin pie, and I burned my mouth.”

The survey reveals 29% of workers (an increase from 28% last year) admit they have played hooky from work at least once in the last 12 months.

What are the best excuses for missing work you’ve ever heard? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Tags: CareerBuilder, dangerous at home, excuses for missing work, lighter side