Whether the cause is months of mounting pressure, a Sisyphean inbox or the insult of meetings insistently scheduled before 10 a.m., there’s nothing more tantalizing than the thought of escaping work for a week, in my case to a cottage with no Wi-Fi. Cue the out-of-office email. In theory, its premise is to let colleagues and correspondents know when you’ll be back and who to contact with urgent queries in the meantime. In practice, however, the etiquette surrounding out-of-office responses varies—often to quite wild and, worse, wacky extremes. It is telling that some employers require a simple “I’ll reply in a week, ” while others seemingly expect the precise geolocation of where you can be found if clients can’t wait until tomorrow. This story is from Kinfolk Issue Forty-Two Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 47 Alice Sheppard On dance as a channel to commune with the body—even when it hurts. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Dr. Woo Meet the tattoo artist who's inked LA. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Walt Odets The author and clinical psychologist on why self-acceptance is the key to a gay man's well-being. Arts & Culture Fashion Issue 47 A Picture of Health Xiaopeng Yuan photographs the world’s weirdest wellness cures. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Chani Nicholas and Sonya Passi Inside the astrology company on a mission to prove workplace well-being is more than a corporate tagline. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Julia Bainbridge On the life-enhancing potential of not drinking alcohol.
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Arts & Culture Issue 47 Walt Odets The author and clinical psychologist on why self-acceptance is the key to a gay man's well-being.
Arts & Culture Fashion Issue 47 A Picture of Health Xiaopeng Yuan photographs the world’s weirdest wellness cures.
Arts & Culture Issue 47 Chani Nicholas and Sonya Passi Inside the astrology company on a mission to prove workplace well-being is more than a corporate tagline.