Employees are forever searching for the perfect excuse when they take a sick day without really being ill. But sometimes those excuses are so far-fetched that they actually make bosses suspicious that an employee is faking their problem.

A survey in the US has found some of the worst excuses ever offered when a worker has called in to take the day off. These include such unlikely events as a chicken attack and a hair transplant gone wrong, with the winner being a man who called in with one hand to say that his other was stuck inside a bowling ball.

The survey, carried out for the jobs website Careerbuilder, also found that 30% of employees in the US had called in sick when they weren’t really ill. However, many workers are starting to be honest with their employers, saying they can’t come into work because they need to catch up on some sleep or just relax.

Employers who responded to the survey said that they believed more employers were taking sick days because they were feeling stressed in the workplace, because of the added pressures of the financial crisis and job losses. Thirty per cent of bosses also admitted to checking up on staff who had called in sick.

Their methods included requiring workers to provide a doctors’ note, calling them at home or even driving by their home to check they were in.

Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, said: ‘If you need to take some time away from the office, the best way not to cause yourself more stress is to be open and honest with your manager.’