I worked somewhere that required we use them when we left for the day or if we were in meetings all day. It was rather annoying to do every single day. Now I am not at a place that requires it thankfully. I will often put one up if I leave early or if I am arriving late. Also if I am actually out of the office I will also put one up.
Regardless of my general health and hygiene over the silly season, I’ll be back in the office on January 2. 15. “Thank you for your consideration during this festive or not-festive time.”
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Yep, tech worker here and I didn’t even bat an eye at this when I saw it on TikTok.
While this may not prove so fortunate for us, we can use the poor weather for comedic relief. You can even include a screenshot of the weather forecast for a sense of realism. Not only will it give senders a chuckle, but it’ll also generate a certain amount of empathy — which is often the key to good content.
So, take a lesson from @courtwhip, editor at PEDESTRIAN.TV, who wrote the above hilarious out-of-office email, fully stocked with mentions of the best movies from the 1990s. (By the way, “Splinter” is from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and as we all know, he loves pizza.)
STANDARD VOICEMAIL MESSAGE FOR ALL OTHER CMSD PHONES: • Every CMSD desk telephone and cell phone must be equipped with a voicemail greeting that is professional and concise and that conveys relevant and useful information to the caller. • All desk/cell phone voice mail greetings should include: o Name of employee. o Title of employee.
I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but I’m on holiday. I won’t be able to connect with you until [date]. However, there’s good news too: my colleague [Name] will help you with pleasure.
Consider also adding a funny GIF or a meme to such an email, some interesting but silly facts, or maybe include a short and harmless joke.
My pet peeve is OOOs for the afternoon/an appointment when the person who set it up is NOT good at responding to emails in a timely fashion. If someone usually requires multiple reminders and follow up emails for me to get a reply to an email after 2 weeks, I don’t really need a notification that their responses will be delayed an hour until they get back from the doctor. It makes me think “who are you responding to that quickly, and why can’t you reply to me that fast??”
When it comes to the final days before vacation, people tend to fall into one of two camps: 1) those who watch the clock incessantly, and 2) those who are so busy before they leave, they might even forget to put up an out-of-office (OOO) email message.
Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately, I’m out of the office from [day/month] to [day/month] with limited/ no access to email. If your question can wait, I’ll be responding to any emails I miss when I return. If not, contact [Name] at [email] or [phone] and he/she will take care of your request.
Website: https://news.mit.edu/2013/away-for-the-holidays-before-you-go-set-your-email-and-mitvoip-phone-auto-replies
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I’m tempted to make out a “SUPER DUPER HELPFUL COWORKER” certificate to hand to them.
If I’m out for three months, *someone* is doing each bit of my job in that time. Me coming back and wading through three months of emails where the majority of them will involve someone seeing the OOO and promptly emailing my cover instead, and trying to track down which ones did that and cc-ed me, which ones did that and *didn’t* cc me, and which ones fell off is just a terrible use of getting-back-up-to-speed time.
On the funnier side, my vacations tend to be trips to either see my favorite band in far flung places or going to conventions for my hobby, so for a while I added a checklist at the end of my OOO that said:
2.) Bienvenido/a John Doe. Por vacaciones de empresa nuestros no volveremos a estar disponibles hasta el lunes día 4 de julio de 2016. El envío de los pedidos se reanudará el 1 de noviembre de 2016. Mientras tanto nos puede enviar sus peticiones por correo electrónico [email protected] o a través de nuestro formulario de contacto. ¡Muchas gracias! de Berlín están cerradas por vacaciones. Puede contactar con nosotros de lunes a viernes de 9:00h a 12:00h y de 13:00h a 18:00h. Para cuestiones generales también puede enviarnos un coreo electrónico a [email protected]. Muchas gracias. Le deseamos que tenga un buen día. Su empresa John Doe AG.