26 Million People Called In Sick After the Super Bowl -- Here's What They Texted Their Boss

It is Monday morning. Your alarm went off twenty minutes ago. You are still horizontal. Your head weighs roughly forty pounds. Somewhere in the fog of last night's overtime, you made a decision that felt reasonable at 11 PM and feels catastrophic at 6:30 AM.

You are not going to work today.

And you are not alone. According to a UKG survey, 26.2 million Americans planned to miss work the Monday after the Super Bowl this year. That is 3.5 million more than last year, which was already a record. The annual ritual of calling in "sick" after the big game has become so widespread that economists estimate it costs the US economy about five billion dollars in lost productivity.

Five billion dollars. From one football game. And a lot of awkward text messages to bosses sent through squinted eyes at sunrise.

If you are reading this on a Monday morning after the Super Bowl -- or honestly, after any big event that turned into a bigger night than expected -- here is how to text your boss without spiraling into a thirty-minute drafting session while your head throbs.

The Templates That Work

The Clean and Simple

"Hi [name], I'm not feeling well this morning and need to take a sick day. I'll catch up on anything urgent tomorrow. Sorry for the short notice."

No explanation needed. No symptoms required. No mention of the game, the overtime, the buffalo dip that may or may not have been out too long. You are not feeling well. That is true. Send it.

The Pre-Planned PTO Move

"Hey [name], just a reminder I'm using a PTO day today as we discussed. I'll be back tomorrow."

This is the power move. About half of the people who skip Super Bowl Monday actually planned ahead and took approved time off. If you were smart enough to request PTO in advance, this text is just a courtesy reminder. You have already won.

The Honest-Without-Oversharing

"Hi [name], I'm running on very little sleep after last night and wouldn't be productive today. Taking a personal day. Back at it tomorrow."

This one walks a fine line between honesty and professionalism. It acknowledges reality without confessing anything specific.

Your boss knows the Super Bowl was last night. They do not need you to confirm you watched all four quarters plus the Bad Bunny halftime show plus the postgame analysis plus one more round of whatever was in that cooler.

The "I Might Work Remote" Compromise

"Hey [name], not feeling 100% this morning. Mind if I work from home today? I can handle [specific task] from here and will be fully back in tomorrow."

This is the diplomat's option. You are not disappearing completely. You are offering a middle ground.

Whether you actually produce meaningful work from your couch in a blanket is between you and your conscience.

What NOT to Text

Do not send a wall of text explaining the entire evening. Your boss does not need a play-by-play. "I was at my friend's Super Bowl party and I ate too many wings and stayed up way too late and honestly I think the nachos might have been bad" is not a sick-day text. It is a confession.

Do not lie about something specific and verifiable. "I have a doctor's appointment" when you do not is a risk that is not worth taking. "Not feeling well" is both honest and unverifiable. Use it.

Do not text your boss from someone else's couch at 3 AM. Set an alarm. Send the text at a reasonable hour. 6:30 AM says "responsible person dealing with an unexpected situation." 3:47 AM says "currently still at the party."

Do not overapologize. One "sorry for the short notice" is professional. Three paragraphs of apology suggests you think your boss will fire you over one sick day, which creates way more awkwardness than the absence itself.

If you have been staring at a blank text for ten minutes and nothing sounds right, Vervo can help. Screenshot the conversation, pick "work" as the context, and get three ready-to-send options in different tones. Sometimes your hungover brain just needs a starting point.

The Bigger Question: Why Is This So Hard?

Here is the thing nobody talks about. Texting your boss is always stressful. The power dynamic is built in. You are asking someone who controls your paycheck and your professional future to grant you permission to not show up. That feels vulnerable even when you have a legitimate fever.

On Super Bowl Monday, the vulnerability doubles because you and your boss both know the real reason. There is an unspoken mutual awareness that makes the entire exchange feel performative. You are pretending you might be sick. They are pretending they believe you. Everyone knows. Nobody says it.

The 26.2 million people who skipped work this year all navigated some version of this dance. And the ones who handled it best were the ones who kept it simple, kept it brief, and did not overthink it.

If you are sitting there right now overthinking what to text back, let me save you the spiral. Pick one of the templates above. Customize it with your boss's name and one specific work detail. Send it. Put your phone down. Go back to sleep.

The text does not have to be perfect. It just has to be sent.

When the Real Issue Is Not the Super Bowl

Sometimes the hardest part of texting your boss is not the words. It is the anxiety underneath them. The fear that one wrong text will change how they see you. The worry that taking a day off makes you look unreliable.

If that sounds familiar -- not just on Super Bowl Monday but on regular Tuesdays when you need to call in sick or ask for time off or respond to a passive-aggressive message -- the issue is not your texting skills. It is the relationship between you and workplace communication.

That is what Vervo was built for. Not to replace your judgment, but to give you options when your brain is too foggy, too anxious, or too hungover to draft something clean. Upload the screenshot. Pick a tone. Get three replies you can actually send.

Here is what that looks like in practice:

That reply took Vervo about three seconds to generate. It would have taken your hangover brain thirty minutes and four deleted drafts.

Because at 6:30 AM on Super Bowl Monday, your brain is not your friend. But your phone can be. Try Vervo free -- 5 replies a day, no credit card.