sleepy girltma/flickrWorst-case scenario.

You're coming down with something. You drank a little too much. You were up too late reading web comics. You just couldn't stop watching that giant fish eat that shark.

And now you've slept through your alarm.

You're late.

elijah lateGiphy

What do you do?

Quora, as usual, is to the rescue. Here are the best suggestions on what to do, care of commenters on a recent thread.

Call whoever's expecting you as soon as you wake up. "This will remove all doubt as to your whereabouts," says Garrick Saito. Don't mince words during that call: Express some kind of regret, say you'll be there in some number of minutes, and get to the office before then. Don't make any pronouncements to your coworkers, don't rend your clothes and don a sackcloth to express your remorse. Just get to your desk. 

Saito's example script of the quick call:

"Hey Bob.  I'm really sorry, but I overslept this morning.  I'll be there in half an hour.  Goodbye."

Maybe just call in sick. "It’s better, in my opinion, for me to stay home and get well than it is to go into work and do a half-assed job on a shortened work day," says user Jon Mixon. This advice is most heedable, we must say, if you're actually ill and not hungover. "I'm acutely sensitive about getting my co-workers sick," Mixon adds, "as I have been in situations where they were not so kind."

See if it's a habit. If you start spotting a pattern of lateness, address it. Guilherme Mauricio offers that you might be "overworking (or have) too much personal activities going on." In that case, he says to "shrink and 'clean' the amount of things you (try to) do in a day."

And come bearing gifts. User Thom Ransom suggests that you win your coworkers over with a little sweetness. 

"Bring donuts," he says.