Funny emails are getting trendy, but they have to be used properly. If you are absolutely sure that your recipients will have a chuckle, go ahead and write a funny out-of-office auto-reply. It might make their day.
I think simple is best, and also safest. I found the message in the post amusing as an AAM article, but if I had contacted this person on a serious and/or urgent work matter I would probably be annoyed by the comedy skit. And I was contacting them because they had messed up somehow, it would land very badly.
.
My OOO replies are relatively boring…usually state if I’m using PTO or at a conference, dates, who to bother in my place, etc.
Life & Arts HomeArtsBooksFood & DrinkFT MagazineHouse & HomeStyleTravelFT Globetrotter
I like funny OOO – but I am a bad offender regarding these and may slightly overshare. I recently had to be in and out for eye surgery and this was mine:
Education Details: See some of our business trip out of office messages below. Out of Office on a Business Trip. If you are out of the office on a business trip, you can state so in your auto reply message. If you are traveling for a client, you do not want to get too specific on the location. Instead, leave your email vague. Put your location on your corporate
If you need assistance during this time, one of my team members will be able to help. They can be contacted at [phone number] Monday-Friday from 8-5.
Click the Active Template checkbox to make the template active and therefore available for use. Inactive Out Of Office templates are not sent to customers by eDesk.
The boss’s thinking was that people who did drivebys looking for you would then email you, see your OOO, and then be able to call you to talk about whatever they were driving by for. No one liked putting their personal contact info so we never worked from home (pre-COVID and pre-VOIP implementation) or told people to IM us and we’d call them.
Very true, if the options came in reverse order (or maybe emergency first followed by not-urgent followed by urgent) that would be a little better.
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.
My snarky colleague sure did in his out-of-office message below. We send thank-you letters in response to holiday gifts, so it's only natural to expect the same gesture in our work inboxes …
Please note that I will be completely disconnected from email and will not be checking messages until I return. So, if you need urgent assistance, please send an email to [Contact Name] at [contact email].
However, if you do choose to do this, make sure you actually follow through and do the thing you’re bragging about, unlike this New York Times reader who was just a bit too bold.
That’s my practice, too, though I only use it for times I’ll be out for a day or more. Some of the work I do and support can be very time sensitive and it’s really the most efficient use of *everyone’s* time if I spend two minutes before I leave setting up OOO so that they are quickly directed to the right person instead of having to go check my calendar, see I’m out for a week, try to remember who it is that’s my backup, etc.
I think you talk to person X and ask them to cc you when they are dealing with things sent to them because of your OOO.
Hahaha. This sounds like somebody thought the phrase “at X’s earliest convenience” sounded vaguely businessy and professional, but didn’t realize the pronoun is always supposed to be “your”. It’s never “my”, for the reason you mentioned.