Ha! Maybe she was short-circuiting someone who would send an email and then come over to her desk 5 minutes later to “see if you got my email.”
For me, life isn’t just about having my brain cryogenically frozen so I can be revived two hundred years after the apocalypse to dance with the chosen few along the gilded path to Valhalla.
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I recently described myself as being “out of the virtual office.” Away from the virtual office” would probably have been even more precise. I think whatever you say, people will understand what you mean.
So that we can all spend valuable time with our families, this Thanksgiving and the following Friday will be paid holidays for all employees. Enjoy the long weekend!
I’ll be back in front of my computer on [date] and will respond to your message at that time. If you need immediate assistance, please send an email to [Contact Name] at [contact email] so that the other elves in this workshop can help you out.
That said, I think it is the kind of thing that is funny with the right people and in the right situation. But an out of office message is an autosend situation, so the email system cannot actually assess if it is appropriate or if the person receiving it will find it amusing, or unprofessional, or apparently even condescending. So while it is a hilarious message for a joke, it would not be a good idea in a professional setting!
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Obviously, not every out-of-office is set for a vacation. You also need an out-of-office if you go on an extended business trip or to a conference. But instead of simply telling people you’re at a business event, why not use this opportunity to encourage networking of new business connections?
At my old job we had a short script for our voice mail messages including whether we were in the office or out of the office. We were specifically told not to say why we were out of the office for personal privacy and protection reasons. However, an exception was soon made–for jury duty. Callers were getting freaked out when they got the message “I’m out of the office and don’t know when I will return.” They would be worried about the person they were calling and worried about whether or not they would be able to get the info they needed. So if on jury duty we would say, “I’m out of the office on jury duty and don’t know when I will return.”
A relatively unprofessional one — like mine, for instance — does the opposite: It encourages prospects, recruiters, and potential connections to run in the other direction.
Writing a holiday message to your boss requires a balance of professionalism and warmth. While you may want to wish your boss happy holidays, reaching out may be daunting if you do not know what to say. Try one of these holiday messages that are sure to touch your boss’s heart.
This used to drive my supervisor crazy, she’d email me “it looks like your OOO is still on.” I had to explain the rationale a few times before she understood.
I can see why you’d have a negative reaction to it–that’s how I felt the first several times I heard about these kinds of emails–but I don’t think it’s actually rude (unless they’re saying “if I get emails from Ali G, I’m deleting them”). The wording of the email can be rude, but the general concept of this kind of email isn’t.
I’ll reply to your message promptly when I return. Should you require immediate assistance, please send an email to [contact name] at [contact email] in my absence.
There are multiple ways to craft your out-of-office message, but there are a couple of standard best practices to follow that will ensure you don’t come back to angry or confused customers, coworkers, or vendors.
That’s all for now. Watch for me in the upcoming out-of-office message, It’s Not a Hangover, It’s Food Poisoning — I Swear! And be safe out there. 7. “The bad news is that I’m out of office. The good news is that I’m out of office.”