For some people, an out-of-office message is a simple one-line email. For others, it's an opportunity to make a grand statement about the relationship between work and life. In 2018, Marina Koren reported on the emailers who auto-delete all new messages while they're on vacation. When she first learned of the trend, she was indignant: The choice 'seemed to flout all the rules of email that we, as an internet-based society, had imposed on ourselves and others.' But that may not be a terrible thing, she realized. Others use their out-of-office emails to either apologize profusely for time away or highlight their indignation at being tied to work or the internet in the first place. In 2024, Lora Kelley argued for the 'goldilocks theory of out-of-office messages.' 'When it comes to sending a note informing people that you will not be available, it's okay to simply say that,' she wrote. However you decide to tell people that you're going away, transitioning between vacation and regular...
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