I was always a little bit skittish about OOO’s in the pre-smartphone days. I don’t like the idea of announcing to the world that my house is going to be unoccupied all week.
Of course, I had one POTENTIAL cient who got the “I’m in court and can’t call you back” repeatedly calling and demanding to know why I wasn’t calling him back. Like “I;m IN COURT DUDE. The JUDGE takes precedence over you.” He really expected me to tell the judge to take a recesss so I could call him back. I eventually got back to him with an email “I think you might be better off with another attorney.”
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I am currently in London. My Inbox didn’t join me on this trip, so I’ll be sure to answer your msg as soon as I return back on Wednesday, MARCH XX, 2XXX.
I’ll be banning myself from my inbox, so if you need something before Monday 2/8, try Molly Fitzgerald, customer success manager extraordinaire, at [email protected]. If it’s urgent, she’ll know how to reach me as I watch my 14th consecutive episode of The Great British Bake Off.
I had a boss that required OOO messages anytime you left the office. A single sick day, leaving four hours early, coming in two hours late, etc. This at an org that didn’t require quick email responses, and at which people typically only put up OOOs for multiple days out.
Sorry I missed you. I’ll be out of the office and slow to respond until after the break. While I have you, though, help settle an argument among my colleagues and me: Die Hard 1: The Office Christmas Party Gone Wrong. Die Hard 2: Airport Conspiracy. Die Hard 3: Samuel L. Jackson. Enough said. Die Hard 4: Cyberthreat. Die Hard 5: You should probably not pick this one. Impossible! It’s like choosing a favorite child!
In most cases, the voice of your out of office message should be similar to the voice you’re using while communicating with clients. If you’re usually formal, replying with a joke could be jarring — and vice versa. Your mileage may vary, but keep that in mind before setting up an automatic reply.
We had to do this at my prior position so that agents knew that we were in the office that specific day. Now i dont even use my phone as most internal people call me on Teams.
Oh gosh. You’ve just reminded me that I was supposed to change my VM before every vacation or holiday at my old job. Something I completely forgot to do after the first year. Whoops!
The one I’ve always wished I was brave enough to write was the one I once got which simply said:
Also, a lot of you have asked where you can find Aviation Gin, so I had the whizzes in our website department whip up this locator aviationgin.com/locator
According to The Washington Post’s self-reported survey of more than 1,000 white-collar workers, “we spend an average of 4.1 hours checking our work email each day.” That’s over 1,000 hours each year. The holidays are the perfect time to temporarily break up with your email inbox for a digital detox. Before you stress about crafting the perfect out of the office message, check out our sample templates. From professionally festive to holiday humor, we know you’ll be ready to copy, paste, and fully embrace the holiday season.
I agree! I’m in HR and all I can think of when I see funny OOO’s from people is, “How big of an a$$ are you going to feel when someone emails you about needing time off for a funeral and they get this nonsense back?”
But nope, we’ve created a world where “I have a dentist appointment and won’t be in until 10 today” is cause for alarm.
Just a friendly reminder that we are closed today for the [Type of Holiday]. Hope you are having a wonderful day off! The office will be opened on [date and time] and we’ll be answering all your questions.
I have always said that I’m taking annual leave so that still applies for me – but that’s pretty standard for my company.
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