JENNIFER COOLIDGE - COOLIDGE'S ELABORATE EYE LIE

Actress JENNIFER COOLIDGE was so intent on taking days off when she worked as a cocktail waitress she once told bosses somebody put a cigarette out in her eye.

The LEGALLY BLONDE star, who is currently appearing in MATT LeBLANC's new comedy JOEY, once served drinks at the same New York restaurant where SANDRA BULLOCK was the hostess, but Coolidge admits she spent much of her time off on "sick days".

She says, "I had (the job) for like five years and I showed up for the job like half the time and I never got fired. I hated the job, but it was sort of very cool management.

"It was hard to get the holidays off, like Fourth Of July and things like that, and I lied so much. My excuses kept getting more dramatic. It started off with just like I was sick with the flu and then by the end...I told them on the Fourth Of July that someone at a party had put a cigarette out in my eye.

"But I went so far with the lie that I went down to Roosevelt Hospital and I had an ambulance driver put on this really elaborate eye patch. I left it on for like two weeks and I messed up my vision when I took it off.

"I was paranoid in New York City that someone would see me without the eye patch - and how would I match up the story?"