Claiming that your dog ate the car keys just isn't going to cut it any more as an excuse for being late for work. Now it's far more plausible to try blaming a malfunctioning sat-nav for sending you in the wrong direction or saying that your Blackberry malfunctioned.
OK, so these excuses are not yet as common as the time-honoured classics of heavy traffic or public transport delays, but a survey for the UK Employment Law Advisory Services (ELAS) has found that that four of the top 10 late–for-work excuses involved malfunctioning technology.
"There's no doubt that devices such as mobile phones and Blackberrys have made the world of work much easier over the past decade," ELAS's Peter Mooney said.
"But clearly our reliance on them - and to some extent, our mistrust of them - seems to be causing the more imaginative of workers to blame these gadgets for their own inadequacies.
"But while the excuses are becoming more modern, the trick for employers remains the same - how to spot when staff are telling the truth from when they are simply late."
So come on – what's the best excuse you've used that you are prepared to admit to?
My partner has a large pet lizard. And yes, it ate my car keys. Boss didn't beleive me until a few days later when I showed her an X-ray the vet had taken.