Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system. You are currently in 352nd place and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.
Well, on the one hand, it’s rude, on the other hand, odds are at least fairly high that the person ended up having to reach out to someone else to get it done. Or that it’ll take the person another week or two just to find their problem in a thousand emails that came in while they were on vacation.
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Earlier this year, British comedian Steve Coogan underscored a growing trend to rethink the OOO when he used it not to advertise his own absence, but rather the return to our screens of his blazer-clad alter ego, hapless media personality Alan Partridge. Written in the broadcaster’s inimitable voice, it had stern words for anyone who dared email him: “I’m not in the office so both cannot and will not respond to your email,” it began. “If your email is urgent, perhaps you should have tried calling instead. The very fact you were content to type out your query long hand and settle back to wait for a reply suggests you can wait, even if you’ve put a red exclamation next to your email to make it stand out in my inbox. Won’t wash with me, that.”
The eternally mind-blowing story of the company-wide email, OoO messages, and reply-all autoresponders that took out a 30,000 employee university email server one summer, comes to mind here…
And while it may seem like a simple thing, if your out-of-office message is unclear or incomplete, it can cause problems while you’re out and when you return.
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This. I’m surprised more people dont havent mentioned this, but this has always been my back to work routine – and sometimes if vacations overlapped, I’d find a summary email of “While you were away, X,Y,Z happened, I covered A, but you might want to check on B and C” which was always very helpful.
I wish I’d copied it, but once a co-worker in sales had an out of office that was long and rambling and talked about how she and her family were “going to visit Mickey.” I didn’t know what to make of it, especially since it could go to prospective clients.
I’m guessing that this comment was gratuitously cruel on purpose just for the lulz, but I’ll give it a serious response anyway:
I don’t usually read the messages anyway, I just take it as information that the recipient won’t see my message right away. If that will cause issues, I’ll contact someone else.
This one’s for all the marketing/sales buffs. Turn your vacation responder into a lead generation tool and collect leads even while you’re away! Hi there, Thanks for your email. I’m currently out-of-office until [date] with limited access to email. If your request is urgent, please contact [name] at [email] or [phone]. In the meantime, did you know that we have a weekly newsletter? Step right up for a weekly dose of all your favorite content from us, delivered right to your inbox. Don’t miss out on the good stuff! Sign up for our newsletter here: [link] I’ll be sure to get back to you as soon as I’m back on [date]. Appreciate your patience! Thanks,
The science fiction writer John Scalzi says “The failure mode of clever is asshole,” which seems to apply here.
Q. Will students who stay on campus during winter break be impacted by this change?
Work-Life Balance6 Out-of-Office Templates for the Holidays That You Can Copy and Paste Now
Are you creating a voicemail greeting for your entire company or team? These business voicemail greetings will do the trick.
When people leave first name contact only as if we’re supposed to know who Susan or Frank are..
Thanks for your note! I’ll be OOO from [date] to [date] and will not have access to email during that time. If this is an urgent matter, please contact [Contact Name] at [contact email].