I love this and want to start using it. I am assuming it’s pronounced “hood-a-lay” and that said hodilay has already begun when the OOO message was written!
Carnegie Mellon's U.S. campuses observe 11 official holidays. The university is closed on these days, and all non-essential personnel are not expected to report to work. Regular, full-time staff members may also take up to three floating holidays per calendar year.
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You can configure automated reply messages to encourage customers to submit their queries.
But that sounds boring, right? Luckily, there are ways to spice up your OOO message by adding humor in just the right places.
Hi stranger, Sorry I'm unable to reply to your email. I'm off frolicking in the meadows. Please do not contact me until I'm back.
In my world, “please contact $Manager” is recognition of a staffing level problem. $Manager will have to decide what project to defer if a crisis comes up while someone is OOO.
I hate unnecessary out of office messages. You don’t need to tell me you will be out for two hours. If it was that important, I would not be using e-mail!
I’ll reply to your message promptly when I return. But if you require immediate assistance, please send an email to [Contact Name] at [contact email] in my absence. Out of Office Template #2 For the Person Who Likes to Keep it Friendly, But Professional
“We went to New Zealand and I informed everyone in my [out of office] that I was ‘bungee jumping in Queenstown’, which seemed like what I should do in Queenstown,” the reader said.
People also hate it when some people sign “Sincerely,” but also a bunch of people hate “Thanks” and “Best” and “Toodles” — almost any signature you pick someone will hate. This is one of those areas of language that feels really subjective and culturally dependent and also…isn’t that big of a deal?
I have always said that I’m taking annual leave so that still applies for me – but that’s pretty standard for my company.
Once I come back on *date*, I will get back to you. Maybe I can even tell you about my adventures.
3) I am out of the office from mm/dd to mm/dd and will not be checking email. It’s likely your note will be swallowed in a sea of inbox banality, never to be seen again. If you require a response, please re-send your email after mm/dd.
I don’t include this much detail on my OOO, but I do include if I am out of the office for religious observance, because I don’t use electronics on my holidays and want people to know that I really won’t get their message until the holiday is over. (Unlike the norm in my workplace that otherwise senior people are checking email even if we’re sick or on vacation. I know, I know.)
We’ve certainly come a long way since the honeymoon days of You’ve Got Mail, the 1998 Meg Ryan romcom in which each new electronic missive set Tom Hanks’ heart fluttering (and vice versa). These days, in tech circles, you’ll hear tales of folk who’ve set their email servers up to automatically delete unread emails after a week – before going on holiday for a full fortnight. Others have reduced the OOO to a single word in the subject line: “Nope.”
Hi, I am currently out of the office from [MM/DD] to [MM/DD]. I will do my best to respond promptly to your email when I return. Please contact [name] at [email] or [phone] for any urgent matters.
Note: Sending automatic replies to anyone outside my organization will send your automatic reply to every email, including newsletters, advertisements, and potentially, junk email. If you want to send automatic replies to those outside your organization, we recommend choosing My contacts only.