A lot of those are related to death:

5 WRAPPING (THE CORPSE OF) HIS MOTHER 2 WRAPPING (THE CORPSE OF) HIS SON 1 EMBALMING HORMOSE 1 EMBALMING HIS BROTHER 1 MOURNING HIS SON 3 LIBATING TO HIS FATHER 13

and I suspect most of these:

8 WITH THE SCRIBE 1 OFF ABSENT WITH THE SCRIBE 5 FETCHING STONE FOR THE SCRIBE 2 FETCHING STONE FOR QENHERKHEPSHEF 1 LIBATING FOR HIS SON 1 LIBATING FOR HIM 1 LIBATING 2 BURYING THE GOD 21

and there's a bunch making remedies and/or looking after wives and female relatives:

6 MAKING REMEDIES FOR THE SCRIBE’S WIFE 5 HIS WIFE WAS BLEEDING 4 WITH KHONS MAKING REMEDIES 4 HIS DAUGHTER WAS BLEEDING 2 HIS MOTHER WAS ILL 21

Some ones that seem work-related by the use of names:

49 WITH HIS BOSS 3 WITH HIS BOSS DITTO 3 WITH HOREMWIA 13 WITH AAPEHTI 68

Then there's some actual stuff the worker was doing - mostly brewing beer:

17 BREWING BEER 5 OFFERING TO THE GOD 1 WITH HIS GOD 1 STRENGTHENING THE DOOR 1 BUILDING HIS HOUSE 25

A few unknowns:

4 OFF ABSENT

And finally the actual illness and injury, including scorpion guy!

67 ILL 4 SUFFERING WITH HIS EYE 1 THE SCORPION BIT HIM 72

Seems that brewing and DIY were the only hobbies around - unless you count making remedies or embalming!

Brewing beer and making remedies may may not be mutually exclusive as ancient beer had natural antibiotics like tetracycline: https://www.wired.com/2010/09/antibiotic-beer/

With his boss:

It's a little buried (on mobile) but:

> ... the next most frequent is being away with one's superior doing private work for him, a practice that was not forbidden if done in moderation.

While definitely a legal grey area in these modern times, foremen borrowing a truck/excavator and a bloke or two to sort out something at the foreman's house still seems to happen.

I imagine this happens often considering the amount of stories I hear of developer companies doing inadequate jobs.

Many might be missing work because of ritual uncleanliness (wife/daughter bleeding)

Yah, exactly, they're not excuses, they're reasons, and apparently allowed and understood.

Whoever wrote that article is really anti-worker and probably a trash person.

The word "excuse" doesn't require the negative connotation you're ascribing to it.

Remember this is translated by archaeologists, and most of them go into the profession thinking about mummies.

I suspect whenever they come across a symbol they don't understand to translate, they might just assume it means "ooh, it must mean wrapping my father"!

TL;DR:. Translator bias could be hitting hard...

No. We have a good grasp of how ancient Egypt worked. Archeologists also don't go into the profession "thinking about mummies", archeology is a respectable, evidence-based profession. Do you think the whole field of archeology is a joke?0 There are lots of dual-language pieces that have been used to verify an accurate translation of these very inscriptions.

Not least of which, the Rosetta Stone has three: Hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Greek.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone

For a long time archeology was simply known as “digging” and following that “digging for things”

Do you have any authority on the subject of archeological academic misconduct or are you speculating?

No, archeologists do not go into the field "thinking about mummies". This isn't Hollywood.

Who knew that Egypt was so progressive that guys can take off when their wife or daughter has a period.

Maybe they, like in some Abrahamic religions to come later, considered women "impure" when they had the period, and this somehow translated to the men in the household? Wild speculation, of course.

Menstruation, Menstrual Hygiene and Woman's Health in Ancient Egypt http://www.mum.org/germnt5.htm

That's what I thought as well, though I would expect that'd appear in higher frequency - unless the bosses sent people to check.

I think it's more likely that the men had to take over household tasks while their wives were on the rag.

Hm. Why would they have to take over? Women on their period are not invalids. Though maybe the weren't allowed to do household tasks?

Now imagine women without modern feminine hygiene products. It’s a very different story.

right, a woman with a particularly heavy period might need to be cared for on the worst day.

Some women are completely disabled by their period pains. I can imagine the husband coming home to attend to her, the kids, the animals, and the house

There are still some cultures where women isolate themselves in separate buildings while they are "unclean".

Yes, this brings us back to my original comment :)

Probably considered unclean -- some religions still believe this (Islam, Judaism). You can't clean and cook if you're unclean? I don't know.

In Islam and Judaism women can still do housework. It's a ritual purity, not an actual physical one.

Calm down. It's just a PMS joke.

Did I not seem calm in my reply?

Oh come on, now you're just being hysterical.

No it's not

they really are putting modern day US employers to shame

Something that hasn’t changed in 3200 years is inconsistent labelling of data.

Hard to implement a drop down menu on a stone tablet :)

You would think after couple of years they will have blocks for WITH BOSS that can just be pressed on the clay.

Tell that to my toes

This is the kind of dry humor that keeps me reading long HN comment threads. Well done.

> BURYING THE GOD

Thousands of years later and yet who among us hasn't missed work to bury God?

around here it’s an annual day off.

Well, the whole point of the holiday is he didn't stay buried.

Hence the need to do it repeatedly.

“To bury your god once may be regarded as misfortune, to bury them twice looks like carelessness.” - not Oscar Wilde.

Wow this really does tell a story. His mom and his son both died.

Everyone he ever met died. Now the story is more sinister!

It's really anti-worker to consider reasons to miss work (legit ones, allowed ones, necessary ones) "excuses". As if everyone's supposed to work all the time and any time off is non-legit.

What a poor way to view workers... the article really is casting workers in a bad light when that's the opposite of what we need.

Reminds me of the #1 reason for a day off work in Australia: possum attack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0ytDTcsuYM

Are these for a single person, or for many people?

If the latter, then, seems their parents (mother) died a lot (5) in comparison to how often they themselves were ill (67)

Sorry boss, can’t come in today. My mother died again.

What if this:

"5 WRAPPING (THE CORPSE OF) HIS MOTHER"

took 5 days? If it included other ceremonies?

(Still, that's a bit much I guess.)

Your momma so fat it took you 5 days to wrap her corpse.

Khonsu must be an important guy

Only a son is worth mourning?