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Original poster

Colleague's fluffy language!

117 replies

Mk9821 · 11/01/2026 21:11

Just received an out of office reply to an email sent to my colleague.
"currently at this present time I'm not at work abd not going to be back in the office till xxx".
She never gets straight to the point, why to some people use overly fluffy and round the houses ways of saying something that can be summarised in a few words?

OP posts:
Watchoutfortheslowaraf · 11/01/2026 21:40

It’s not fluffy, it’s just repetitive. I’m amazed it bothers you enough to start a thread about it though.

Strawberrryfields · 11/01/2026 21:39

I think people think it sounds more professional but it just sounds a bit cringe to me.

SodOffbacktoaibu · 11/01/2026 21:36

The issue will be that you don't like her and that's why it irritates you.

Catza · 11/01/2026 21:35

It's less annoying than getting OOO which says "I am currently out of office".. Thanks for that, Melanie. Was it too much to ask to stick your return date on there?

Didimum · 11/01/2026 21:30

I really can’t fathom why threads like these are started. It’s mind boggling.

BengalBangle · 11/01/2026 21:24

Tautologies irk me!

Allthesnowallthetime · 11/01/2026 21:20

I thought this was going to be a thread about cats.

Most disappointing.

HoseGoblin · 11/01/2026 21:19

I get it, it's the difference between "I'm out of office until x anything urgent can be directed to x" and "forsooth verily I will not be available for correspondence until the waxing gibbous of the tenth day of middletide, your questions, queries and lamentations will be received and resolved joyously by my virtuous desk partner until such time as I am available again."

I had to consciously make my everyday correspondence less purple when I realised how annoying it is lmao, I was doing it because I didn't want to come across blunt and rude with single sentence responses to things.

MrsPinkSky · 11/01/2026 21:18

'Currently' and 'at this present time' is mildly annoying.

But meh 🤷‍♂️

RandomMess · 11/01/2026 21:18

Some folk thrive on prolixity, personally I think its a waste of peoples time having to read it.

MammaWeasel · 11/01/2026 21:17

Yanbu

somanychristmaslights · 11/01/2026 21:16

My out of office just says “I am out the office until Monday 12th January. I will respond to your email on my return”. To the point!

TheDandyLion · 11/01/2026 21:15

Snipples · 11/01/2026 21:14

That is pretty to the point and fairly standard for an out of office, what exactly would you expect her to say?

It's not to the point. 'at this present time' is the same as 'currently'.

somanychristmaslights · 11/01/2026 21:15

Currently and present time are the same thing!!

aperollingintotheweekend · 11/01/2026 21:15

This is such a non issue

Snipples · 11/01/2026 21:14

That is pretty to the point and fairly standard for an out of office, what exactly would you expect her to say?

AndMilesToGo · 11/01/2026 21:13

They think it’s more formal?