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Automatic Reply

Automatic Reply celebrates the pithy, surprising or otherwise amusing out-of-office email messages pinging around workplaces.

From This Collection

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Automatic Reply: "Thank you for your consideration during this festive or not-festive time"

by Maria Hollenhorst
Dec 23, 2019
As a paralegal, Kelsey Berteaux uses language cautiously. Her out-of-office emails are no exception.
Holiday decorations on display in the Grand Foyer at the White House, December 2, 2019.
Mark Wilson / Staff
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Automatic Reply: "There's a good boy"

by Maria Hollenhorst
Dec 12, 2019
Mateo Eaton is barking crazy about out of office messages.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
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Automatic Reply: "Lesson learned"

by Maria Hollenhorst
Dec 5, 2019
Winter vacations can have their downsides.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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Automatic Reply: "You CAN do this"

by Maria Hollenhorst
Nov 29, 2019
When David Bullock took vacation, he felt his coworkers needed some reassurance.
Phil Cole/Getty Images
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Automatic Reply: “Relaxing, reflecting, and not looking at screens”

by Bennett Purser
Nov 27, 2019
An out-of-office response containing some relevant research.
Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images
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Automatic Reply: "I'd love to 'Help!,' but I'm out of the office"

by Maria Hollenhorst
Aug 28, 2019
"If you try me and get 'no reply,' you can get by 'with a little help from my friends,'" writes this Beatles fan.
The Beatles on the steps of an airplane, waving to their fans in 1964.
Evening Standard/Getty Images
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Automatic Reply: "Vacation Is Coming"

by Maria Hollenhorst
Aug 22, 2019
This is far from your average out-of-office message.
"Vacation is Coming" is a twenty-seven minute film created by Andy Freed, the CEO of a consulting company as an out-of-office message.
Courtesy of Virtual Inc.
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Automatic Reply: "I am unable to reply to your eckeltronic mail"

by Maria Hollenhorst
Aug 14, 2019
Kelly Cowling told the Muggles she's getting a root canal.
Copies of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series sit in a bookstore in Arlington, Virginia.
Alex Wong/Newsmakers
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Automatic Reply: "I'm here to amaze you"

by Maria Hollenhorst
Aug 13, 2019
This one has whale music.
A Humpback whale jumps in the surface of the Pacific Ocean in July, 2013.
AFP PHOTO/Luis ROBAYO
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Automatic Reply: "Don't be jealous"

by Maria Hollenhorst
Aug 5, 2019
There's no vacation like a jury duty vacation.
There's no vacation like a jury duty vacation.
Harry Todd/Fox Photos/Getty Images
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