Colleague's fluffy language!

[Mk9821]

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?

It is a ludicrously pompous sounding email for a basic OOO. I would be cringing a bit of their behalf.

People are so steeped in mindless gobbledygook that they equate nonsense like this with “professionalism”. It’s endemic.

"I'm away from the office from X until Y."

“Please may you kindly see attached”

Makes my teeth itch. I think it’s very childish language

Urghh, makes me wince a bit when I get an overly solicitous, apologetic and wordy OOO. Some of my colleagues have ones like “I’m so sorry I’m not able to immediately respond to your email enquiry. I am currently on leave until xxx and while I will still be checking in on my emails periodically my responses may be delayed so please bear with me. If your query is urgent then my colleague xxxx should be able to help you in my absence………”

My OOO is ‘I am on leave [date] till [date] and will reply to your email on my return. Urgent enquiries can be sent to xxxxxx alternatively you may find the answer to your query on the knowledge base here - [URL].

Not everyone is skilled at writing crisp, to the point messages. We can look down on their ignorance in a disapproving way or we can feel glad that somehow, somewhere, we learned this important skill. Even the best writers need editors to trim things.

Exactly. Who cares?

Just a different style. Maybe she thinks you are abrupt!

‘Currently at this present time’ is a tautology, and very irritating. For me, this kind of language use creates a bit of a negative impression of the writer.

I am part-time and used to have my regular day off mid-week.

My OOO said “I don’t work on Wednesdays. I will respond when I return to work tomorrow. If urgent please call [number].”

Some senior colleague I barely knew once complained to my boss that my message was “too abrupt”!

I do this and I'm aware when writing that it sounds like i'm apologising for bothering me.

Sometimes I write 'How are you?" or "Hope all is well with you' at the beginning of a mail when I'm writing to somebody that I'm not in weekly contact with. It bothers me too as its meaningless filler and I know they'll unnecessarily respond in kind.

I've been accused (in different roles) of being abrupt so I make an effort to do the above. No idea what to say instead.

It's a little awkwardly verbose, but it gets the message across adequately and politely.

Would you have preferred her to just write "Bugger off!" ?!

Apologies. Out of office until xx:yy:zz

Please contact Jo Blogs on xxxxxx for any urgent assistance.

Yes indeed.

its like the current trend to say 'when did you both meet'
🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️.

What annoys me even more is OOO replies and voicemails on 13 January which say ‘thanks for your message, I’m currently on annual leave and out of the office. I will return to work on 5 January and respond to your query then’. FFS update your OOO etc if you’ve extended your leave for whatever reason or just bloody well reply to my message 🤬

Spookily one of my guys just sent this word bouquet out to a customer.

People really don't like hearing that this type of language is judged. I don't really understand why.

If the writer turned up for work in pyjamas, reeking of BO and with unbrushed hair they would be judged. What they write is also a presentation of themselves which others will use to form an opinion.

Another petty grievance - people wishing me a happy new year in emails beyond the first day back at work.

I’ve imposed a statute of limitations within my team, in a Larry David style.

That reads like a dodgy phishing email! If I received that there's no way I'd open the attachment.

I think HNY is good till the end of the first week back, assuming you haven't already said it to the person.

I know 🙄. What he meant was "here are the lab reports from which we took the data in the presentation"

"Gary and I..."

Lol I immediately thought of a fluffer and thought your colleague was using naughty words.

Good point! 👍

And the moral behind the story is don’t criticise others and get things wrong yourself at the same time.

I got an out of office last week that said "I am on holiday and will see your email when I get back".

No return date, nothing. I particularly liked that it didn't promise a reply to my email when they get back, just that they will see it 😆

Because they are the people who write similarly and are feeling the pressure now.