Is the cough on the other end of the line real? According to CareerBuilder.com’s annual survey on absenteeism at the office, 32 percent of workers said they have called in sick when they were well at least once in the last year.

… 27 percent of workers said they consider their sick days to be equivalent to vacation days.

… 23% of workers said they took the day off simply because they just didn’t feel like going to work that day.

… More than half (52 percent) of employers say Monday is the most popular day for employee absenteeism, followed by Friday at 24 percent and Saturday at 9 percent.

… When asked to share the most unusual excuses employees gave for missing work, employers offered the following real-life examples:

• Employee said is upper body was “toast” too much video game playing over the weekend

• Employee said he was crabby

• Employee got whiplash from brushing her hair

• Employee said her psychic told her to stay home or something awful would happen to her

• Employee said he wasn’t feeling well and wanted to rest up for the company’s holiday party that night

• Employee said her chickens’ feet were frozen to the driveway

• At her sister’s wedding, the employee chipped her tooth on a Mint Julep, bent over to spit it out, hit her head on a keg and was knocked unconscious with a mild concussion

• Employee was injured while getting a haircut

• Employee tasted some dog food because the dog was not feeling well and now the employee is sick

• Some sort of animal bit the employee’s car tire, causing it to go