Ancient Egyptian excuses for missing work

A 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet shows attendance & work absences, and Ancient Egyptians’ reasons for skipping a work day include ‘embalming brother,’ ‘brewing beer,’ and ‘stung by a scorpion.’

The ancient Egyptian tablet, displayed in the British Museum, was a work supervisor’s attendance sheet was used to register the reasons workers were absent. It seems that construction workers on the Great Pyramids had to clock-in and clock-out like every other worker in history and calling in sick was just as common then as it is now. It also shows some interesting excuses for not going into work.

Bizarre reasons for not turning up to work

The stone tablet, known as an ostracon, is a limestone slab inscribed with red and black ink. On it, names, dates and reasons for not turning up to work. One such excuse noted on the block is an employee named Pennub who couldn’t make it in because his mother was ill. Other reasons given for the workers’ own ailments was one that says he had been stung in the eye by a scorpion. Several other absentee employees gave embalming deceased relatives as their reason.

I couldn’t come in because I was making beer

Some excuses simply would not be tolerated today, such as for example ‘brewing beer’. Homemade beer was an important part of ancient Egyptian civilisation because, among other reasons, the alcohol killed the bacteria in water. Beer was also considered a fortifying beverage associated with the god Hathor and therefore considered a good reason to miss work.

Maybe brewing beer should be brought back as a valid excuse for skipping work today.