Business English Lesson on Late or No Show (1) How to handle it? Five minutes late If you are going to be just a little late, then you don't need to call in. However, you will need to tell them why you are late when you get in the office. Here are some examples. "Sorry I'm late. Traffic was unusually bad today." "I apologize for being late. I had to drop off my wife at work. It took longer than I thought." "I had a dentist appointment this morning and it was longer than I expected." "I'm sorry for being late. I got stuck in every light this morning." If you are the boss, then you might want to ask why your employee is late. Let's see some of these sentences. "Running late this morning?" "What held you up this morning?" "Do you have a reason for being late?" "Why are you late?"