I could see the benefit if someone needed to ask something before they left. It seems courteous?
Yeah, I do think some are pretty funny (eg tan lines) and some are not so terrible, but I honestly think she took them incredibly seriously and wasn’t trying to make her colleagues laugh as much as just ….. put out an air of “look how personable and authentic I am”. She also lamented that other people’s OOOs were “rigid” and why couldn’t people have fun?! Which again, sounds not so bad but was someone who would regularly ask prying inappropriate personal questions, so it came across less like “let’s loosen up” and more like “why won’t people tell me the specifics of why they’re off today, because I deserve to know”.
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The best solution, in my experience, is for the person covering your work to cc’ you on responses to the forwarded request. Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain* June 3, 2021 at 11:27 am
Two to three sentences is usually enough to tell recipients everything they need to know.
The main goal of an auto-respond email is to ensure clarity of communication expectations and offer appropriate alternatives.
I got the original voice mail on my landline when it became available for home use. It replaced the old voicemail recorder you could buy.
YES. I was actually just going to go on the weekend thread and ask if I was the only one that really hates this term.
Braden also recommends using HubSpot's out-of-office email generator to create your OOO message.
Have a product, order, support or other question? Our support team is here to help. Company ABOUT US CONTACT US BLOG Support TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ORDERS & ACCOUNTS DOWNLOAD CENTER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Home NEWS Our Offices Will Be Closed December 23-26 In Observance of the Christmas Holiday Our Offices Will Be Closed December 23-26 In Observance of the Christmas Holiday
Usually also right before a deadline, after ignoring warnings about said deadline for 3 weeks.
Here’s one example out in the world, which jumpstarted me thinking about this topic:
I used to work at a place where we would occasionally send reports of network misuse that sometimes included inappropriate images the user had stored on work devices. One person had an email system that was somehow set up to make any attached images the profile pic for that account. So she would end up with random pornographic images as the profile pic whenever she received reports from us. She said she had no idea how to change it and could we please help? Since she was not part of our company, and I have no idea how that could even happen, I just started sending her kitten pictures after every report that included an image. Problem solved.
I managed to get through 9-month contract roles at two different workplaces without ever setting up voicemail. Even though they were not phone-oriented workplaces I’m a little surprised I got away with that! Interestingly, in all that time only one person ever noticed and said something.
Hi, I am currently out of the office until [MM/DD]. I will reply to emails as soon as I can upon my return. If this is urgent, please contact [name] at [email] or [phone]. In the meantime, check out this new [product/sale/service/etc]. I can answer any questions about it for you when I get back.
I worked at an office where we used OOO messages on voicemail pretty regularly and if we forgot to change the message, our callers were quick to tell us the outgoing message was outdated. That end date feature would have been a big help for us! A local council in Wales needed to get a road sign translated into Welsh. (All official signs in Wales have to be in both English and Welsh.) They got an out of office message in Welsh from the translator they contacted, assumed that was the translation and printed the out of office message on the sign. They didn’t realise their mistake till a Welsh speaker pointed it out…
That’s why I instituted group email addresses/boxes for this use (I had to fight with IT to have one created in the early days). Yes, everyone has their individual email in addition to the group mailbox.
Of course I’ll still be glad to hear from you – try me at this email: [insert email].