The out of office assistant.

RANT ALERT!!

Do you use it??If you do, do you update it? Have you noticed you can have a different answer to people inside your business or organisation, as well as anyone external?

It drives me mad when you get someone’s and they’re out of date.?It looks sloppy or careless and of course just causes confusion about when you’re going to be working.??

Mind you I remember one client called Tom, who called me when I was on holiday, and when he said, “I emailed you, but you didn’t get back to me, are you abroad though?” I guess from the foreign ring tone, I said “well as you emailed me, didn’t you get my out of office reply?”?He replied, “yes but I didn’t read it, I thought I would call you instead, but it isn’t important, call me when you’re back from holiday”.??

Well as the out of office had the dates on it that I was away for, I thought it would’ve saved a call.?If you receive an out of office reply, read it!?It isn’t just an auto responder to say you’re not at your desk because you’ve gone to the loo or you’re in a meeting.

But IF you do use it, make sure it is up to date and gives the right details.?This video was inspired by the late Fiona Cameron.?She was an absolute treasure and is very much missed.?But we did laugh about this, and she found it hilarious that I made a video about it.

Fiona, gone but never forgotten…