Be Bold Be Bald 2014

Be Bold Be Bald 2014

Tardiness: A Satirical Analysis of the "Best" Excuses

Completely off topic from trucking defense, but still associated with employee management, I thought I would share some of the best excuses for tardiness anticipating so lame excuse for tardiness over an employee's anticipated surgery. (side note: I am being sarcastic for the purpose of satire so calm down.)

 

A dozen HR professionals and hiring managers out of a poll of 2,201 shared excuses they’ve heard from employees arriving late to work that are so silly that they’re hilarious.

 

The following were actual excuses given and determined be the best in a  survey, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of the surveying masters at Career Builder:

• Zebra congestion. Employee claimed a zebra running down the highway held up traffic (turned out to be true).
• Rough night. Employee woke up on the front lawn of a house two blocks away from his home.
• Feline shenanigans. Employee’s cat got stuck in the toilet.
• Couldn’t make breakfast. Employee ran out of milk for cereal and had to buy some before getting ready for work.
• Cozy parking. Employee was late to work because he fell asleep in the car when he got to work.
• Temporary blindness. Employee accidentally put superglue in her eye instead of contact lens resolution, and had to go to the emergency room. How did she get there?
• Free candy = national holiday. Employee thought Halloween was a work holiday.
• Roofing issues. Employee said a hole in the roof caused rain to fall on the alarm clock and it didn’t go off.
• The suspense was brutal. Employee was watching something on TV and really wanted to see the end.
• Short-term memory loss. Employee forgot that the company had changed locations.
• Tangled. Employee got a hairbrush stuck in her hair.
• Boogeyman paid a visit. Employee was scared by a nightmare.

Survey says:

 

Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome (RADS)

In your legal career, eventually you will come across RADS (Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome), even in trucking litigation, particularly when hauling hazardous materials.

 

One of the oddest and difficult cases to defend in the trucking industry involved a person who claimed to have developed RADS from the leaking of hazardous chemicals in product delivered.

 

For a moment, disregard the issue of liability or if Carmack would apply to limit the personal injury damages from cargo delivered (see prior blogs on Carmack defenses). For now, let's focus on the diagnoses and cause of RADS.

 

So what exactly do you know about RADS?

What is RADS?

 

There is disagreement as to the exact definition/nature of RADS. The term "Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome" was first used by S.M. Brooks and his colleagues in a 1985 article in a magazine published y the American College of Chest Physicians (the article is attached). Brooks defined RADS as "an asthma-like illness [developed] after a single exposure to high levels of an irritating vapor, fume, or smoke."

Over time, many in the medical community have begun to mistakenly use RADS as a synonym for asthma. There is agreement among the authors of the article I read that RADS is distinct from asthma.

 

How is RADS treated?

  

RADS may be treated with prescription medications or anti-inflammatory drugs. The research I conducted led to the conclusion that complete treatment of the disease is possible. Of course, treatment is only successful if the patient avoids continued exposure to the irritants that caused the disease.

How is RADS diagnosed?