I’m extremely busy watching Home Alone, Die Hard, and the 1994 Ninja Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Christmas Special on repeat until the new year.
I feel for the people who have to cover others’ out-of-office for a few hours or a day, just as much as I feel for those who have to arrange cover whenever they’re out for a meeting. If the purpose is showing demanding clients that they can get a quick response to their issues at any time, then…won’t talking to someone who doesn’t have any context about their business piss them off even more? It all feels like unnecessary stress to put on people.
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In general, because of my position (C suite) my OOO messages are boring and predictable. I’m out from xx date to xx date. If you need help in my absence, please contact xyz person. Otherwise, I will reply to your email upon my return. blah blah blah
You can use software like AppogeeHR to set up vacation emails that will automatically turn on when you go away for approved leave. You can also create templates of emails to share with your team with a tool like Right Inbox.
So, take a lesson from @courtwhip, editor at PEDESTRIAN.TV, who wrote the above hilarious out-of-office email, fully stocked with mentions of the best movies from the 1990s. (By the way, "Splinter" is from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and as we all know, he loves pizza.)
Image Source: https://www.yesware.com/wp-content/uploads/out-of-office-example-8.png
22. "Hi, you've reached [your name, the office of X company]. We're closed until [date]. Please leave your name and phone number and someone will return your call ASAP. Have a great [New Year's, Fourth of July, etc.]."
Hello! I’m going to be out of the office until [date]. If you need something before then, please contact [colleague] at [email] or [phone number] to receive assistance.Hello! Thank you for your email. I am out of the office right now but get back to you ASAP. You can expect a reply by [day] latest. For anything you need right away, you can contact [alternative contact option].
Closed Signs. Using closed signs is an effective way to inform your clients that your business is closed temporarily, for lunch, due to weather or during the holidays. Stating the reason why your office or business is closed can reduce the frustration of your clients or visitors.
And describing their boss as elusive….taken in context with the rest of the message…seems a bit of an attempt to say, “I run this ship solo so good luck with getting them to “help”, lol”
It got bad enough that others began begging someone to cull the list. Reply all, of course (thankfully it didn’t turn into an explosion of replies all). Someone finally did remove the email from the list.
Doesn’t work when phone is off or out of range, does it? I’m a small business owner but I am often driving in out of range areas and will be traveling for a week with no signal most of the time. Considering leaving my phone plugged in at home just so it can send the auto replies. Still no fix though for the hours spent outside sms land every week.
Select File > Automatic Replies. Select Send automatic replies.Select Only send during this time range.Choose the dates and times you'd like to set your automatic reply for.Type in a message.Select OK.
1.) Bem-vindo a John Doe. Nosso atendimento direto não funciona durante o feriado. Nosso horário de funcionamento pode ser encontrado no nosso site www.joendoe.de - Obrigado por sua confiança. Desejamos a você e seus entes queridos boas festas e um feliz ano novo.
It was just this colleague – it (thankfully) wasn’t the culture of the office, and I never saw anyone else abuse the OOO like this.
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.
I’ve only seen it used for certain roles – usually admin-type ones – where people are fielding a significant amount of requests, so the potential vacation backlog could become prohibative and discourage people from taking time off.