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 50 Close Knit Meet the weavers keeping traditional Egyptian tapestrymaking alive. Arts & Culture Issue 50 The Old Gays Inside a Californian TikTok “content house” of a very different stripe. Arts & Culture Issue 50 New Roots The Palestinian art and agriculture collective sowing seeds of community. Arts & Culture Issue 50 Angela Trimbur An all-out tour de force. Arts & Culture Issue 50 Peace & Quiet In the UK, a centuries-old Quaker meeting house encourages quiet reflection. Arts & Culture Issue 50 Free Wheelers On the road with London’s Velociposse Cycling Club.
Arts & Culture Issue 50 Close Knit Meet the weavers keeping traditional Egyptian tapestrymaking alive.
Arts & Culture Issue 50 The Old Gays Inside a Californian TikTok “content house” of a very different stripe.
Arts & Culture Issue 50 New Roots The Palestinian art and agriculture collective sowing seeds of community.
Arts & Culture Issue 50 Peace & Quiet In the UK, a centuries-old Quaker meeting house encourages quiet reflection.