Guy Emails A Coworker Who’s On Vacation, Gets A Hilarious Auto-Response
Most of the people who ever had to deal with office work can attest that handling e-mails can be a pretty boring task. “Schedule” this, “forward” that and with the number of letters people send each other, it all eventually accumulates to hours of writing and clicking and reading. And all of it is so darn boring. Well, one Reddit user who goes by a quite confusing name Sigdavtilmig, was up for a pleasant surprise when they opened one of the emails that they were expecting. Although the contents of the response were something they did not anticipate when they sent a message to Roy, the hilarious text made the inconvenience so much better. Scroll down below to read what Roy’s response was and tell us what you think in the comments. (Facebook cover image: RichardBH)
One person recently got an automated e-mail response they did not expect
The message, that was sent from a person named Roy, said:
“Hi there!
I know, I know. You got an immediate reply. And You were all like: “Ah! So he CAN answer mails!”
But alas, dear writer. I am off to a sunny island with the two people I love most. No, not Luke Skywalker and Jimi Hendrix. My wife and my son!
Nothing but a week of sun and quality time with my two favorite people.
It’s the recipe to happiness. I highly recommend you try it. With your loved ones, I mean. You can’t have mine. That’d be freaky.
“Anyway. I won’t be replying to you. Usually people write they have no access to mail or phone and we all know that’s a lie – they just don’t want to reply. I am however deleting outlook from my phone for the week and roaming is off, so I literally cannot be contacted until I am back, which will be Tuesday, December 11th.
I look forward to replying to you then …unless I get eaten by a shark or something.
If that does happen, then it’s OK. The shark would be eating a happy meal.
I only ask you remember me as a kind man who loved vegetarian curries and death metal and whose autoreply made your day a little less ‘winter is coming’ and a bit more ‘island in the sun’.
Have a great week!
/roy”
Image credits: Max Norskog (not the actual photo)
Turns out, Roy was away, vacationing on a sunny island with his family (and not Luke Skywalker and Jimi Hendrix, unfortunately). Even though the man took some time off office work, he did put enough energy into writing a lengthy automated response to anyone who’d be looking for him. Props to you, Roy!
People had a lot to say about the automated response
398Kviews
Share on Facebook
I really don't understand all the people commenting this guy on being "unprofessional". He's professional, he knows the difference between working hours and vacation. If this guy was working in Germany he could have reported the company to the authorities for trying to contact him while he was on vacation. That's the difference between America and Europe: In America employees are considered more or less usefull assets that need to be available 24/7. In Europe employees are considered human beings that need to have their own time and their privacy. We have labour laws that make sure that employees are treated with respect. Respect as in paying them enough so that they don't have to work 3 jobs to make ends meet, giving them a minimum of 20 vacation days and having to pay them during the weeks that they are ill. Edit : I got downvotes. Probably from American employers who don't want their employees to read that it is possible to have a job that gets decently paid and where the employee is treated fair.
I wouldn't say that this is entirely true for Germany. With a smartphone always at hand you're expected to read and reply all the time (in private conversations). That's also reflecting to worklife. And I also think it depends on your personallity and the job you're doing.
Load More Replies...
When my husband is on vacation, he is ON VACATION. He leaves his out-of-office email and heads out the door and will respond to no one for the entire time he's gone. ...///... For all the sour-grapers out there whining about this, my husband usually has over 100 emails before noon every day. He travels for work, leaving on Mondays at early o'clock and returning on Thursday or Friday nights. Generally he works a 60-70 hour week. ..///... Here's his advice: NO business runs on heroes. NO ONE is indispensible.
True. If someone dropped dead at their desk, the employers would just shrug and get another grunt. You get no brownie points for being a martyr.
Load More Replies...
In my office we do leave funny little out of office messages to amuse one another, but this one, I find obnoxious. "I'm on vacation, and unlike everyone else, I am really not answering my emails. You should try being more like me."
I leave funny messages on internal out of office replies, but externally it's more professional. You never know who will send you emails when you're away. I agree with you, the CEO of a major corporation doesn't want to be told to be more like me.
Load More Replies...
I yeah I thought it was funny, then all the fun suckers had to come out and attack. Y’all realize unless you emailed him personally during this time you don’t know if it was just an in office reply or company wide, actually y’all don’t know squat but just wanna jump on the “he was wrong, I’m offended” bandwagon. Can someone please shove that bandwagon and ALL THE PEOPLE ON IT off a cliff already. Yes we get it you want to be important too, guess what tho, you're not!
I agree with some of the comments. While it is *a very tiny bit* funny, it is very unhelpful to anyone who needs to contact him with an urgent matter.
If it's an urgent matter (and nothing pertaining to work is urgent) it warrants a phone call.
Load More Replies...
Wow! Why are so many people so angry about this?? The guy's on holiday with his family for goodness' sake! The people leaving negative comments clearly have their lives dictated by their job and that's a real shame. I'd rather have a couple of people annoyed that I left an auto response like that, than become a corporate drone with no life outside of work. Some people really need to sit down and assess their lives. Before people take this the wrong way, I obviously realise people need to work to live and to survive. I myself have kidney disease amongst other terrible conditions and I can’t afford to not work but there’s a difference between having to work and being consumed by work so completely, it’s the most important thing in your life.
oh, you're confusing this all around. To leave information about contact in your absence - is the way POLITELY tell everyone that you personally will read this message in fortnight after your hollidays end. But a letter like in the post just tells everyone (clients or collegues or anybode else) that the author is an a*****e.
Load More Replies...
People out here are complaining abou this guy unprofessional email. Yet no one is going to mention he’s on vacation leave, he has no obligation to work under contract law. Simply answering questions is considered work. Are they gonna pay him for working on his vacation, no. And were he to leave an emergency contact for work it would have been abused. Why? Because for work, everything is an emergency.
Unprofessional is mailing coleauges when you know they are off work, and hope for a really.
BTW, the user name is Danish, and it basically means "Say hi to me"
Meh. I agree with the last person. It’s funny for like two lines and then it’s like, “okay dude we get it, you’re quirky. No need to try so hard.”
I am sorry but if /roy worked for me he would be coming home to a warning. Firstly he is nowhere near as funny as he imagines himself to be, but also with such a long auto reply he is wasting people's time, most people would read through that expecting the pertinent information to be somewhere is such a diatribe, namely who is dealing with his responsibilities in his absence. I don't think I am a bad boss - I would not like to think of my employees answering emails on holiday (vacation), but the thought of a client or supplier reading that kind of message makes me cringe. And if received as a customer of that organisation, it makes it sound like he hates his job and working conditions, and so I would consider taking my custom elsewhere.
That response was completely unnecessary and just a waste of time for people who email him. For a vacation, just set up as short auto-reply that you are out of office and who to contact if it's urgent. People are allowed to email you whenever they want to. You just have to spend 4 days upon your return responding to them all. And any company that expects you to check your emails while on vacation, unless the specific job calls for it (which should be rare) are taking advantage of their employees and in fact they are stupid. People need a break and will work better on their return if they get one.
I think he probably works in a small enough office that he knows everyone SHOULD know he's on vacation and shouldn't be trying to email him.
I don't get why it's considered rude to send an email to a person in vacation. They return a normal OOO mail, everybody knows that their emails will only be answered in two weeks, and move on with their lives. Personally, I _want_ to be CC'd on some conversations, even when I am away, so that I can catch up later.
Does anyone maybe, just MAYBE think that he could've set different OOO responses to people in AND out of his organization? Just saying …
This man is not funny. He should leave a back up e-mail to contact in his absence. - Someone trying to be funny and isn't is as difficult to listen to as someone trying to sing, who is a terrible singer.
Seems like a humorous and blithe inner office bounce back to me. We have no way of knowing what Roy's position in the company is, and if he deals with outside vendors or clients. This was received by a coworker, who may or may not have been the person who shared it and called it "hilarious."
While I do support people not working on days off/holidays, what was the point of that email? Maybe it's just me but to me it just sound like gleeful "ooo I'm on vacation and having fun while you're trying to work, tee hee, have fun with that":( They wrote so much but never even bothered to write whom to contact in their absence. If they'd at least done as much it'd pass as alright in my book - made a joke but still got the job done. This way it's just wasting people's time as they're trying to work.
Very unprofessional. I don't care why you not answering, I care about my issue to be solved. Don't waste my time with all those words to read, just tell me whom to contact with in your absence.
Wow I hope you don't manage anyone. You sound miserable
Load More Replies...
I've decided to click the down arrow every time I see "this is not the actual picture". Should I like the content or not. If it's not the actual picture, unless there is a need to explain something hard to understand, there is no need for an unrelated picture. We all know what a beach is so if you don't have the real picture, don't use any.
People are more likely to read an article with a picture (any picture) that is why they are adding it. ---- And they don't care if you like it or not. ----- "Online articles with images receive 94 percent more views than those without, according to a new infographic by Optimind technology." You can google that, and the sources are at the bottom of the infographic.
Load More Replies... I really don't understand all the people commenting this guy on being "unprofessional". He's professional, he knows the difference between working hours and vacation. If this guy was working in Germany he could have reported the company to the authorities for trying to contact him while he was on vacation. That's the difference between America and Europe: In America employees are considered more or less usefull assets that need to be available 24/7. In Europe employees are considered human beings that need to have their own time and their privacy. We have labour laws that make sure that employees are treated with respect. Respect as in paying them enough so that they don't have to work 3 jobs to make ends meet, giving them a minimum of 20 vacation days and having to pay them during the weeks that they are ill. Edit : I got downvotes. Probably from American employers who don't want their employees to read that it is possible to have a job that gets decently paid and where the employee is treated fair.
I wouldn't say that this is entirely true for Germany. With a smartphone always at hand you're expected to read and reply all the time (in private conversations). That's also reflecting to worklife. And I also think it depends on your personallity and the job you're doing.
Load More Replies... When my husband is on vacation, he is ON VACATION. He leaves his out-of-office email and heads out the door and will respond to no one for the entire time he's gone. ...///... For all the sour-grapers out there whining about this, my husband usually has over 100 emails before noon every day. He travels for work, leaving on Mondays at early o'clock and returning on Thursday or Friday nights. Generally he works a 60-70 hour week. ..///... Here's his advice: NO business runs on heroes. NO ONE is indispensible.
True. If someone dropped dead at their desk, the employers would just shrug and get another grunt. You get no brownie points for being a martyr.
Load More Replies... In my office we do leave funny little out of office messages to amuse one another, but this one, I find obnoxious. "I'm on vacation, and unlike everyone else, I am really not answering my emails. You should try being more like me."
I leave funny messages on internal out of office replies, but externally it's more professional. You never know who will send you emails when you're away. I agree with you, the CEO of a major corporation doesn't want to be told to be more like me.
Load More Replies... I yeah I thought it was funny, then all the fun suckers had to come out and attack. Y’all realize unless you emailed him personally during this time you don’t know if it was just an in office reply or company wide, actually y’all don’t know squat but just wanna jump on the “he was wrong, I’m offended” bandwagon. Can someone please shove that bandwagon and ALL THE PEOPLE ON IT off a cliff already. Yes we get it you want to be important too, guess what tho, you're not!
I agree with some of the comments. While it is *a very tiny bit* funny, it is very unhelpful to anyone who needs to contact him with an urgent matter.
If it's an urgent matter (and nothing pertaining to work is urgent) it warrants a phone call.
Load More Replies... Wow! Why are so many people so angry about this?? The guy's on holiday with his family for goodness' sake! The people leaving negative comments clearly have their lives dictated by their job and that's a real shame. I'd rather have a couple of people annoyed that I left an auto response like that, than become a corporate drone with no life outside of work. Some people really need to sit down and assess their lives. Before people take this the wrong way, I obviously realise people need to work to live and to survive. I myself have kidney disease amongst other terrible conditions and I can’t afford to not work but there’s a difference between having to work and being consumed by work so completely, it’s the most important thing in your life.
oh, you're confusing this all around. To leave information about contact in your absence - is the way POLITELY tell everyone that you personally will read this message in fortnight after your hollidays end. But a letter like in the post just tells everyone (clients or collegues or anybode else) that the author is an a*****e.
Load More Replies... People out here are complaining abou this guy unprofessional email. Yet no one is going to mention he’s on vacation leave, he has no obligation to work under contract law. Simply answering questions is considered work. Are they gonna pay him for working on his vacation, no. And were he to leave an emergency contact for work it would have been abused. Why? Because for work, everything is an emergency.
Unprofessional is mailing coleauges when you know they are off work, and hope for a really.
BTW, the user name is Danish, and it basically means "Say hi to me"
Meh. I agree with the last person. It’s funny for like two lines and then it’s like, “okay dude we get it, you’re quirky. No need to try so hard.”
I am sorry but if /roy worked for me he would be coming home to a warning. Firstly he is nowhere near as funny as he imagines himself to be, but also with such a long auto reply he is wasting people's time, most people would read through that expecting the pertinent information to be somewhere is such a diatribe, namely who is dealing with his responsibilities in his absence. I don't think I am a bad boss - I would not like to think of my employees answering emails on holiday (vacation), but the thought of a client or supplier reading that kind of message makes me cringe. And if received as a customer of that organisation, it makes it sound like he hates his job and working conditions, and so I would consider taking my custom elsewhere.
That response was completely unnecessary and just a waste of time for people who email him. For a vacation, just set up as short auto-reply that you are out of office and who to contact if it's urgent. People are allowed to email you whenever they want to. You just have to spend 4 days upon your return responding to them all. And any company that expects you to check your emails while on vacation, unless the specific job calls for it (which should be rare) are taking advantage of their employees and in fact they are stupid. People need a break and will work better on their return if they get one.
I think he probably works in a small enough office that he knows everyone SHOULD know he's on vacation and shouldn't be trying to email him.
I don't get why it's considered rude to send an email to a person in vacation. They return a normal OOO mail, everybody knows that their emails will only be answered in two weeks, and move on with their lives. Personally, I _want_ to be CC'd on some conversations, even when I am away, so that I can catch up later.
Does anyone maybe, just MAYBE think that he could've set different OOO responses to people in AND out of his organization? Just saying …
This man is not funny. He should leave a back up e-mail to contact in his absence. - Someone trying to be funny and isn't is as difficult to listen to as someone trying to sing, who is a terrible singer.
Seems like a humorous and blithe inner office bounce back to me. We have no way of knowing what Roy's position in the company is, and if he deals with outside vendors or clients. This was received by a coworker, who may or may not have been the person who shared it and called it "hilarious."
While I do support people not working on days off/holidays, what was the point of that email? Maybe it's just me but to me it just sound like gleeful "ooo I'm on vacation and having fun while you're trying to work, tee hee, have fun with that":( They wrote so much but never even bothered to write whom to contact in their absence. If they'd at least done as much it'd pass as alright in my book - made a joke but still got the job done. This way it's just wasting people's time as they're trying to work.
Very unprofessional. I don't care why you not answering, I care about my issue to be solved. Don't waste my time with all those words to read, just tell me whom to contact with in your absence.
Wow I hope you don't manage anyone. You sound miserable
Load More Replies... I've decided to click the down arrow every time I see "this is not the actual picture". Should I like the content or not. If it's not the actual picture, unless there is a need to explain something hard to understand, there is no need for an unrelated picture. We all know what a beach is so if you don't have the real picture, don't use any.
People are more likely to read an article with a picture (any picture) that is why they are adding it. ---- And they don't care if you like it or not. ----- "Online articles with images receive 94 percent more views than those without, according to a new infographic by Optimind technology." You can google that, and the sources are at the bottom of the infographic.
Load More Replies...
166
52