The funniest out-of-office replies

The ‘false hope’ meme

 

We’ve all been burnt by this one before…This meme created by Barry Moroney could be a nice bumper for an internal OOO reply to close friends and colleagues.

 

 

The honest approach

 

People know what to expect when they see an OOO reply. This year we all need a break more than ever. Why not drop the pretence completely?

 

Well, for lots of reasons, actually. Mainly politeness. But if you insist, you could simply write something like: ‘I’m currently busy watching Home Alone 1, Home Alone 2, maybe Home Alone 3, but definitely not Home Alone 4. I will have many food breaks, the occasional toilet break, but I will be doing nothing else. A slightly heavier version of me will reply after 4 January 2020.’

 

Or take inspiration from honest Josh Kopelman. Kopelman turned his OOO into something strange and beautiful. He opted for complete honesty, but with an added dose of snark for good measure. Kopelman wrote:

 

“I am currently out of the office on vacation.

 

I know I’m supposed to say that I’ll have limited access to email and won’t be able to respond until I return – but that’s not true. My blackberry will be with me and I can respond if I need to. And I recognize that I’ll probably need to interrupt my vacation from time to time to deal with something urgent.

 

That said, I promised my wife that I am going to try to disconnect, get away and enjoy our vacation as much as possible. So, I’m going to experiment with something new. I’m going to leave the decision in your hands:

• If your email truly is urgent and you need a response while I’m on vacation, please resend it to interruptyourvacation@firstround. com and I’ll try to respond to it promptly.
• If you think someone else at First Round Capital might be able to help you, feel free to email my assistant, Fiona, and she’ll try to point you in the right direction.

Otherwise, I’ll respond when I return…”

 

 

The honest approach

 

How about adapting your sign-off to include something that reminds your reader that it truly is the worst of times, such as:

 

Best (but could be better),

Take care, seriously,

Cautious cheers,

 

Do you have any better ones? Comment below.

 

 

The emoji approach

 

Is there really any need for words? Why not just use emojis? Ben Stapley did, as he demonstrated on Twitter. See if you can translate.

 

The infographic conundrum

 

Why not complicate matters with an infographic, one that gives very little of the necessary information and really doesn’t help anyone who tries to contact you?

 

Why not use an infographic that simply explains the stress of taking a break from work?

 

There are obviously plenty of reasons why not, but still, why not?

 

The OOO generator

 

For people without the energy to come up with something comical, Hub Spot has created an OOO generator. All you have to do is fill out some basic information and the generator will give you various OOO replies.

 

It is the best way of ensuring you have a creative OOO while also ensuring you do not have to do any of the actual creative work.

 

 

 

The Rick Astley

 

Why not go all out? 

 

Last but absolutely not least on our ill-advised list is Steven Nelson, a veteran writer of elaborate OOO responses, according to the BBC. 

 

Nelson channelled his inner Rick Astley to give a weird and arguably wonderful OOO, which we will leave you with. You can sing along if you like – and you probably will.

 

“Never gonna give you up, Never gonna let you down, Never gonna run around and desert you, Never gonna make you cry, Never gonna say goodbye, Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you. I’m also never gonna reply to your message until 9th August as I’m off on holiday.”

 

Do not follow any of the above advice. Enjoy your well-deserved break. Here is Rick Astley.