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Louise Thomas
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In a corporate work environment, it is common for employees to leave an out of office message to let others know that they might not be regularly checking their email.
However, one person under the username @joshfrommarketing recently turned to TikTok to share what one Gen Z employee did instead of writing a traditional out of office email reply. “I wish this was a joke but he’s not even here to make this a video,” the clip’s caption read.
“Our Gen Z marketing guy set this as his out of office,” the video began, as it showed a computer screen with an Outlook email account that only read: “Hi there, Please refer to the attached video.”
The TikToker then pulled up their co-worker’s out of office video, which began with a photo of an airplane and text that read: “I’m out of office.”
“Are you rolling?” the employee himself showed up in the video and asked the person recording him. “If you’re watching this, I’m probably on a plane to Europe right now.”
“Here are some answers to frequently asked questions,” he said.
The first question was when he would be back, but he seemed to skip over the answer on purpose.
“Two: if you’re a recruiter my personal email is…” the video continued. “And three: for urgent inquiries, send me an email and I’ll look at it when I get back.”
The video ended with commercial-type music and text across the screen, reading: “We’ll be right back.” His out of office video also featured various effects like a plane flying across the screen as he recited the questions, and the sound of an airplane intercom that flight attendants use to communicate with one another.
The TikTok went on to receive nearly six million views as of July 18. Many people turned to the comments section to express how entertaining they found the video to be.
“The guts these Gen Z kids have,” one comment began. “Me crying in Millennial anxiety just asking to use my annual leave.”
“This is so 90s VHF infomercial,” another commenter joked.
A third commenter wrote that they’ve also used technology to make their out of office email message seem more interesting. “Wait because I laughed out loud because I’m Gen Z and in charge of a residency program and I have my Outlook send GIFs about being out of office!!!” they wrote.
Other commenters pointed out that the video seemed similar to something Michael Scott - the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in the sitcom, The Office - would do. A few TikTokers also made comparisons to the character Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother.
Some people also explained how much the video inspired them for their own out of office messages in the future.
“I’ll definitely be sending a video for my two week notice haha!” one comment read.
Another commenter agreed, writing: “I wanna do this so bad but I don’t think it’d go over well with my workplace.”
