Woman's 'unethical hacks' to call in sick at work leave people in stitches – The Mirror
Dubbed the ‘Corporate Petty Expert’, Kayla Avery has revealed an array of scandalous tips and tricks to skip work without your bosses or colleagues batting an eyelid
Whether you had one too many beers the night before or can't bear to face your horrible boss, we've all been tempted to 'pull a sickie' once or twice. And now one career coach has unveiled a wild list of 'unethical work hacks' that's left people in stitches.
Influencer Kayla Avery has certainly been dubbed the 'Corporate Petty Expert' for a reason, as her cheeky tricks to fake fevers and simulate phone calls have probably never crossed your mind. In a post to her Instagram @corporatespiritguide last week, she revealed some of her most mischievous tips of all, but stressed "I'm not telling you to do them, I'm just telling you about them."
She jibed: "Want to go home? Five hundred milligrams of niacin on a stomach with only water in it will cause your face to flush and you can claim you're having an allergic reaction.
"Asked to make a phone call at work but you really don't want to, but you're going to need proof you sent it? Put your phone on airplane mode and call the number, it will still show up in your call log but the number will never connect.
"Calling out of work? Heading to the doctor? Really want to be out of work for an extended period of time? Say you work in the food service. Doctors will almost automatically write the note for two or three days more simply because you're working with food."
Kayla continued: "Always have a pack of uncooked noodles sitting on your desk because you can claim you're at lunch at any point you don't want to talk to somebody.
"…Don't want to work? Reserve a meeting room and play classical music on your phone in a low tone. And when anybody comes in say ‘god, I’ve been on hold forever’. You could do this on repeat for hours.
"How does the underachiever look like the overachiever? I use Outlook's 'send at a specific time' feature and I schedule my emails out all day. Seems like I'm working away all day, meanwhile, I just automated them to send at different times."
Kayla's parody video comes as more than half of UK adults (56%) have 'pulled a sickie' in the past year, according to a poll by Eras. Covid, migraines and mental health were among the most common excuses given, in addition to physical injury and nausea.
But diarrhoea, the 'sick bug' and depression were listed as three of the 'most believable', as well as heightened stress.
Her advice has since been met with hundreds of stunned comments, with countless Instagrammers admitting they'll be trying these hacks for themselves.
"Umm I definitely never did the 'on hold thing' for over four hours in the media closet," wrote one commenter.
One joked: "Not all heroes wear capes. Thank you," as another chimed in: "The people in the comments complaining are obviously the snitches on their jobs."
"Devious" but "hilarious" were also amidst the flurry of comments. Another added: "If you are contemplating using any of these hacks, just do yourself a favour and get a new job."
Do you have a story to tell? Get in touch at lauren.haughey@reachplc.com
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