One of the most famous incidences of playing hooky from work, was when Bach wrote to the most famous organist of the day, Dietrich Buxtehude (who only early-music people have ever heard of but who wrote some awesome stuff), to ask if he could take lessons. Buxtehude was actually very famous at the time... on the scale of ballsiness, he may as well have been writing to Justin Bieber. Buxtehude had better things to do than read his fan mail, so he didn't reply. So Bach just ditched work for a few months, and decided to show up on Buxtehude's doorstep. He didn't have a lot of money, and Buxtehude lived literally at the opposite end of the country, but that doesn't stop someone like JS Bach. He walked 250 miles to Buxtehude's city, and showed up at the practice studio asking for lessons. Buxtehude slammed the door on him. Bach came back the next day, and the next, and by the end of the week Bach had convinced the celebrity to let him just sit in the corner and WATCH him practice.