Think about the last time you were late for work. Did you wake up late? Forget your laptop at home? Couldn’t get your kids out the door fast enough? Misplaced the blouse you wanted to wear?

All of these are valid reasons for employees being late to work. In fact, almost all of those things have happened to us all at least once. But, in a new survey by CareerBuilder.com, “Late to Work,” rather than telling the simple truth, 24 percent of workers make up a lie to explain their tardiness.

More than 32 percent of workers blamed traffic as the reason to their tardiness, according to the survey. Falling back asleep was the reason cited by 17 percent, while 7 percent pointed to a long commute as the main reason. Other popular reasons included getting kids ready for school and daycare, forgetting something at home and feeling sick.

Most employers believe their workers when they give a reason for being tardy, but 27 percent say they’re skeptical.

Take a look at the top 10 strangest excusese employees have given for being late (no wonder employers are skeptical!).

• While rowing across the river to work, I got lost in the fog.
• Someone stole all my daffodils.
• I had to go audition for American Idol.
• My ex-husband stole my car so I couldn’t drive to work.
• My route to work was shut down by a Presidential motorcade.
• I wasn’t thinking and accidentally went to my old job.
• I was indicted for securities fraud this morning.
• The line was too long at Starbucks.
• I was trying to get my gun back from the police.
• I didn’t have money for gas because all of the pawn shops were closed.

Be on time to work!