Everybody has to make a living. But some days, making a living just feels… well, too much like hard work. Luckily, you always have the option of pulling a sickie – you just have to make sure you get your excuses right. Some of the items on this list are from a survey by Pricewaterhouse Coopers on how people approached sick days. Of course, we don’t know how successful their excuses were…

#8 – Car Trouble

If you live in a remote area, car trouble could be a viable reason for a day off; you may have literally no other way of getting to work. But if you have the option of taking a taxi, this excuse really grinds to a halt. You could claim, as one enterprising soul questioned in the PwC survey did, that your car rolled down the hill into a lamppost and you’ll be spending the day at the garage. Alternatively, you could just awkwardly try to come up with reasons that you can’t make it into work any other way. At best, car trouble is a plausible excuse for being late; you’ll need to work a bit harder to get the whole day off.