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Out of Office Text and Variables

Since July 2012 I have used roughly the same out of office text for my email auto-responder. But to keep it interesting (for me, anyway!) I have rotated through a set of variables that I substitute in the text.

Positive variables

The text originally was something like this:

I am currently in [A] for a full program of meetings at [B]. This brings with it the attendant timezone impedance mismatches and the cloying fog of jetlag. As a result, please do not be dismayed if my return emails lack their usual [X] and [Y].

Variables A and B are hopefully self-explanatory. Variables X and Y were drawn from the following list, where X was ideally something related to time, and Y something related to quality:

Negative variables

Once I had run though the positive variables, I decided to try negative variables instead. I didn't want to reuse the positive ones, and coming up with negative variables was an interesting challenge. My thanks to Kerry Levett for coming up with many of these variables when I got blocked.

This approach meant the text needed to change to something like this:

I am currently in/travelling to/returning from A for the B and associated events. This will inevitably involve the usual timezone impedance mismatches and the cognitive delights of jet lag. As a result, please be sympathetic to any Y and Z in my replies.

Variables X and Y were now drawn from the following list, where X was still something related to time, and Y something related to quality: