That message was definitely too long, and while I see it was meant to be funny/snarky, I can see where it would be grating / easy to misinterpret.
We have some field staff who have out of office replies set up for when they do fieldwork. On one hand it’s nice I guess, but on the other hand, they aren’t dealing with urgent matters only they can handle (they don’t manage projects or deal with clients), so it seems a bit unnecessary? No one has been disciplined for not responding to an email the same day. But maybe I’m just a crabby Gen-Xer, and a client can stand to wait a few hours or until the next day to get an answer from me.
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The worst one I ever received was from a coworker (senior to me, but not my manager) many years ago. I’ll paraphrase it as my memory isn’t great:
Oct 15, 2014 · While it seems that everyone sends holiday cards these days, the key to standing out in the stack is to select a high quality card and include a thoughtful, heart-felt sentiment. Here are a few ideas to get you started: All of us send you warm wishes for a happy, peaceful holiday season and a prosperous new year.
Yes – it’s become a stock phrase that people think sounds polite but they’re not grasping the nuance of it.
What I really hate is when I get back to the office and haven’t taken the 10 minutes to go into our labyrinthian voicemail system, remove the out of office voicemail message, and record a new one (without being interrupted, stuttering, etc.) and some SUPER DUPER HELPFUL person feels the need to InFoRm mE in their voicemail message that I sTiLl HaVe My OuT oF oFfIcE mEsSaGe Up!!!1!
I like funny OOO – but I am a bad offender regarding these and may slightly overshare. I recently had to be in and out for eye surgery and this was mine:
A. Facilities and maintenance operations will be very limited on Main Campus during winter break. Therefore, if there is a reason why your work area must remain heated, maintain a certain level of humidity, etc., be sure your department leadership has made arrangements with Facilities ([email protected]) well in advance of winter break so these needs can be met.
My boss requires us to put a nightly OOO message up, and I HATE it. I pushed back on it for months at first, because people know and understand that the reason no one is responding at 8pm is because the business is closed (or at least, they should understand that…). It wasn’t worth the fight, my boss thinks it’s so important, so I caved and just turn on the message every night. I think it makes us look immature and like we don’t understand business norms, but it’s not the hill I’m willing to die on.
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.
Funny emails are getting trendy, but they have to be used properly. If you are absolutely sure that your recipients will have a chuckle, go ahead and write a funny out-of-office auto-reply. It might make their day.
A. While The University of Toledo Medical Center and its operations must remain open for our patients and guests, yes – there will be a limited number of offices closed on HSC during winter break because they are academic, non-hospital or non-patient care areas. Leaders of those departments are responsible for ensuring their students, team members, customers, vendors and other stakeholders know in advance that they will be closed during winter break. Their email and voicemail messages also should inform customers of the specific closure dates.
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Don’t be afraid to use a pop cultural reference that the audience would recognize. Instead of bemoaning your absence, they’ll have something fun and familiar to laugh at.
I feel like this is the only reason to do this, otherwise its just a big piss off.
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