Calling off work to go to a fake funeral is so common it’s almost considered cliche. People online talk about pretending their grandma dies at every new job, which is something I have not been desperate enough to do yet. Even though it’s relatively uncommon in the working world (college professors see this excuse more than anyone on earth), funerals have built up a reputation as an easy excuse to get off work without using PTO. That makes the whole «calling off work/postponing an exam for a funeral» thing tricky to handle. Many workplaces require proof of death, which is highly cavalier when somebody is telling the truth, which is more often than not. It’s a touchy subject, and there’s no singular correct policy for how to deal with it. However, there is a wrong way, and one of those wrong ways is a word cloud of all the family members’ funerals you’re allowed to leave work for.