OMG. When I was in college, my mom got me a summer job at her office. All I did was send faxes, get faxes back, and put dates in a spreadsheet.
A retired small town newspaper guy once told me about the first time the publisher went on vacation and left him in charge (this would have been in the 80s). The publisher told him “Don’t call me unless the building burns down, and even then, don’t call me until the fire is out.” Good example of management setting vacation expectations.
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That doesn’t sound odd to me at all, depending on the company. I used to send a staff-wide note because they needed to know I would be out and they could plan accordingly if they needed anything. At my current company I wouldn’t do this, but that’s because it’s massive and I only directly work with a small team.
These messages are useful at virtual Christmas parties, and to include on a virtual holiday party invitation.
As a part time person, I now put an OOO on my non-work days since I was getting snarky comments about slow response times. (People don’t realize I’m part time and my position is not suited at all to it.) Dude, I didn’t respond because I don’t get paid to work on Fridays.
My boss does not understand OOO and thinks I saw his email and sent the reply personally and does not understand why I didn’t answer the actual question.
I’m at Growth Marketing Conference – Are You? Bonjour from France! 🇫🇷Happy Holidays! I’m at home with my family.
I forgot I did that and it was pointed out by a recruiter who was trying to reach me to schedule a phone screen. Whoops, haha.
Email is one of the top tools for business communication. People expect swift responses to their requests. If this expectation will not be met because you are away from your desk, your client or colleague needs to know.
Hello, All our stores will be closed until the end of the week for [Christmas]. We will respond to all your inquiries once we are back on [date]. Merry Christmas! Regards [Name/signature]
It is not appropriate to say in the message that you will get back on the day you return from your vacation. You may have a lot of work to take care of on your first day after getting back; you don’t want to promise something you won’t be able to fulfil.
If you’re not sure when you’ll return, don’t include dates. Simply direct them to a colleague.
Working from home? Try these OOO messages to let people know you’re taking a break. 16. “I’ll get back to you once I’m back from my long-awaited trip to the fridge.”
If you’re in a rush or just not sure what to write use some of these out-of-office email examples in your next auto-response email message.
What would be annoying would be receiving multiple emails from me to see if the pet changes each time the OoO is triggered, along with follow-up emails from me inquiring about Fluffiekins’s adoption status. :-) Otherwise, this is BRILLIANT. And on brand.
What Should Your Vacation Message Include?A subject, with the dates you leave and returnWho to contact in an emergency (name, email, and phone number)Point of contact for non-urgent inquiries (name, email, and phone number)Keep Your Message Professional
In my much, MUCH younger days, I printed out a photo of a cruise ship with an arrow and “I am here” pasted on it and taped it to my monitor…