36 Best Power or Internet Outage Excuses For Work From Home

Work from Home

Do you want to work from home, but your coworker is being a little annoying, and it’s too hard to get away? Or do you need an excuse to stay home and avoid the commute? Whatever the case may be, we’ve got you covered.

Whether it’s your company going down for the count for a few hours or throughout the day, power outages or Internet outage excuses offer convenient reasons to flex some of that branching-out muscle.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a coworker who doesn’t understand these things happen. It’s easier to say, “I’m sorry, but I can’t make it in because of the cable internet outage in our area,” or “My company can’t work properly without power” than to explain why you need the day off.

And, maybe your branch will have trouble getting their work done. Below, we’ll go through some common excuses and how to use them.

Here are some Quick Ideas for Power or Internet Outage Excuses For Work From Home

  1. Power Outage: “Due to an unexpected power outage, I cannot access my work computer and complete my tasks.”
  2. Internet Connection Issues: “I am unable to work from home today as I am facing issues with my internet connection, which is affecting my ability to access my work files and communicate with my team.”
  3. Technical Difficulties: “I am currently experiencing technical difficulties with my home setup, preventing me from completing my work tasks. I am working on resolving the issue as quickly as possible.”
  4. Provider Maintenance: “My internet service provider is performing maintenance work today, affecting my internet connection and making it difficult for me to work from home.”
  5. Weather-related Issues: “Due to the severe weather conditions, I am experiencing power outages and disruptions to my internet connection, making it difficult to work from home.”
  6. Local Emergency: “There is a local emergency in my area affecting power and internet services, making it impossible for me to work from home.”
  7. Equipment Failure: “I am unable to work from home today as my work computer has suddenly stopped functioning, and I need to get it repaired.”
  8. Area-Wide Outage: “An area-wide power outage affects my ability to work from home, and I cannot access my work files or communicate with my team.”
  9. Internet Speed Slowdown: “I am facing slow internet speeds affecting my ability to complete my work tasks efficiently.”
  10. Router Failure: “My home router has failed, causing a disruption to my internet connection and making it difficult for me to work from home.”
  11. Electrical Issues: “There are electrical issues in my building affecting my power and internet connections, making it impossible to work from home.”
  12. System Upgrade: “My internet service provider is upgrading their systems, causing disruptions to my internet connection and making it difficult for me to work from home.”
  13. Cyberattack: “I cannot work from home today due to a cyberattack on the company’s network, which has affected our internet and power services.”
  14. Network Outage: “A network outage is affecting my ability to access my work files and communicate with my team, so I will be unable to work from home today.”
  15. Workstation Upgrade: “I cannot work from home today as my work computer is undergoing a software upgrade, affecting my ability to access my files and complete my tasks.”
  16. Natural Disaster: “Due to a natural disaster, such as a hurricane, tornado, or earthquake, I cannot work from home as there are power and internet outages in my area.”
  17. Satellite Outage: “A satellite outage is affecting my internet connection and making it difficult for me to work from home.”
  18. Maintenance Window: “My internet service provider performs maintenance work during a scheduled maintenance window, affecting my ability to work from home.”
  19. Cable Cut: “A cable cut has disrupted my internet connection and is making it difficult to work from home.”
  20. Line Malfunction: “A telephone line malfunction is affecting my internet connection and making it impossible to work from home.”
  21. Electrical Storm: “A severe storm has caused a power outage in my area, making it difficult for me to work from home.”
  22. System Failure: “A system failure has disrupted my internet connection, making it difficult to work from home.”
  23. Power Surge: “A power surge has damaged my work computer, making it difficult for me to work from home.”
  24. Infrastructure Issues: “Infrastructure issues in my area are affecting my power and internet connections, making it impossible to work from home.”
  25. Wireless Network Interference: “I am experiencing interference with my wireless network, making it difficult to work from home.”
  26. Service Provider Outage: “A service provider outage is affecting my internet connection and making it difficult for me to work from home.”
  27. Fiber Cut: “A fiber cut has disrupted my internet connection and is making it difficult to work from home.”
  28. Data Center Outage: “A data center outage affects my ability to access my work files and complete my tasks.”
  29. Fire at the Data Center: “Due to a fire at the data center, I cannot work from home as my access to work files and systems is affected.”
  30. Server Maintenance: “The servers are undergoing maintenance, making it difficult to access my work files and complete my tasks from home.”
  31. Wi-Fi Interference: “I am experiencing interference with my wi-fi network, making it difficult to work from home.”
  32. ISP Upgrade: “My internet service provider is upgrading their systems, causing disruptions to my internet connection and making it difficult for me to work from home.”
  33. Fiber Optic Line Damage: “Damage to a fiber optic line is affecting my internet connection and making it difficult for me to work from home.”
  34. Computer Virus: “My work computer has been infected, making it difficult to access my files and complete my tasks from home.”
  35. Limited Bandwidth: “I am experiencing limited bandwidth, making it difficult to access my work files and complete my tasks from home.”
  36. DNS Outage: “A domain name system (DNS) outage affects my ability to access my work files and complete my tasks from home.”

Typical Power or Internet Outage Excuses For Work From Home:

1. Laptop Malfunction excuse

It may be a good time to spin a “laptop malfunction” excuse if your company is down. No one wants to lose their entire day’s worth of work, which is an easy way to get out without making anyone suspicious.

The key with this one is that you must know yourself well enough not to let guilt hinder your productivity. You can only get away with not being productive for a day or two if you’re usually serious about your work, and your boss will catch on if you’re faking it.

The trick is politely asking to work from home while fixing the glitch and then staying home. If you usually take an hour or two off to clean up the house or meet up with friends, that’s fine, as long as you get your work in, too!

2. Internet outage excuse

Internet outage excuses are a little more challenging to pull off. You might not be able to get out of work if your company is down and your boss finds out that you didn’t even bother coming into the office.

The only way around this is to have a good reason why you weren’t there the last few days, but don’t make it a habit. It’s OK to say that you were stuck at home on the weekend or that traffic was terrible, and your boss will have to take your word for it. Also, make sure your computer isn’t fracking up – you don’t want anyone else getting suspicious.

No Power and No Internet

3. Illness or Appointment excuse

There are many ways to avoid going to work during a power outage. Since most companies have electricity generators, the result will probably be significant enough to keep the lights on, and everyone else is still going in.

Still, you can use an illness or appointment excuse. While it’s tempting to take this one and run, stay away from the flu as an excuse unless you’re sick. Other than that, pretty much anything goes with this one.

One way to get away with it is if your boss has some distant connection with your situation, like a relative with the same illness or someone who recently had a baby (or just had one).

No one wants to cause a fuss, but you can come across as sincere and reliable by taking off for a medical appointment or to support your family member. With Covid 19, this excuse is very common.

4. Late working excuse

Even if your average workplace is unaffected by the outage, you can still get away with working from home – don’t make this a habit. Don’t burn anyone out by doing it too often, but make an offer to do a lot of work from home while the power is out.

You can either request to do it pro bono or by offering to stay late or work through lunch (if your company allows that). This gives you an excellent reason to use vacation time in your bank account and take long weekends.

5. Laptop Wi-Fi Drivers’ excuse

Laptop Wi-Fi drivers and not working excuses are other ones you may take advantage of. If your Wi-Fi goes out, it isn’t very pleasant, but it’s not the end of the world.

You don’t want to come across as too much of a jerk about it, so check with your coworkers and see who’s out of commission.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help if your situation is unique: maybe there’s a sick coworker or someone who has their new laptop acting funny, and they’ll need some extra time to diagnose it.

If no one needs anything from you today, consider giving the weekend off and coming in on Monday anyway.

6. Forced Shutdown or Restart of Your Computer

You can say that your computer is having a shutdown or restart problem and that it will take time for an IT engineer to fix the issue. And then mention that you have a home computer that you can use for work.

You cannot take your home computer to work, so your manager will allow you to work from home. He will also appreciate your finding a solution to the malfunctioning laptop without affecting your work. This is another good way for an excuse to work from home.

7. I’m experiencing bad weather

This is another good excuse if you live in an area where severe weather is common. Again, have a backup plan to continue working despite the conditions.

You can say you will use your home computer or go to a friend’s home with a spare laptop and work from there. Weather problems can include it’s raining or snowing, or the weather is freezing, or there is a storm warning, etc.

Word of Caution

Even though you may have a legitimate reason to stay home, don’t be so generous that you end up working too few hours and burning yourself out. No one wants to see you hobbling in on Friday; you’re tired and beat up because you’ve just returned from the beach.

You can still work from home if your company is down for a day or two, but keep it reasonable: no more than three to five days total, and ensure you’re not taking too much time away from your job.

Conclusion

Using power outages or Internet outage excuses for work from home is a great way to get out of work and get things done. While it can be tempting to abuse these excuses, remember that they will only take you so far: using them occasionally is OK, but don’t make it a habit.

Feel free to rock the power outage or Internet outage excuses for working from home if your company is down!

This situation is perfect for allowing you a little freedom and not coming across as lazy – no one will think you’re abusing your sick days when they discover more significant problems.