Fun & Famous

How everything went wrong

Although I have already had six trips since the end of May (Capri was replaced by Paris, Paris by New York after which I drove to Normandy in the brand new Renault Talisman and then jumped on the Thalys with my husband and kids for a visit to Paris), but now it is really really really vacation. The laptop was supposed to stay closed. That I am already typing five minutes after arrival remains between us of course and I should also install an out of office.

Preferably a nice aggressive one that says all incoming emails will be crushed so that you really start with a clean slate after your vacation. It seems to be extremely effective and good for productivity and such, but it seemed a bit unfriendly to me. So I was brewing on a nice little text with a wink on the left and a joke on the right, but overall with the clear undertone: I am not here and do not bother me further. Well, suppose you had a sweet deal to New York or something, then you could text me, but that email, I was definitely not going to read.

As it goes with out of offices, that was really the very last task before I left the building. I also had a hard drink appointment with my favorite neighbors, so I was already with one leg in the car when I started rummaging in my email browser. How did it go again? Last year it had gone completely wrong with my action.

”But then... My mailbox went adrift”

We were going to do it differently now. So I asked for help from Elke and Annick, our translator and sales assistant who can really do everything. So this too. We followed the steps neatly, I typed my juicy little text and pressed okay. But then... My mailbox went adrift. I saw a hundred messages being sent out. While I was actually closing my laptop. For a period of two weeks.

What had happened? Somehow, I had proactively notified everyone who had ever sent me the tiniest message about my vacation. I was buried under messages. That something was going wrong ‘according to them’. Yes, I had understood that by now. Now, in addition to managing my mailbox (which had now gone into a frenzy), I also had to reassure all those overheated texters. Or not reassure, because I had no idea what was going on.

Hotels (where I had once reserved a year ago) were asking me when they could welcome me exactly and the ladies from Net-a-Porter asked me if I was still waiting for an order because they didn't understand the message.

But... I also received warm emails from people from a distant past who wished me a wonderful time. Friends who asked if I happened to be where they were and if we could go sailing together. And an important business contact wrote to me that he thought Amayzine was amazing and wanted to make big plans after my vacation.

That out of office of mine turned out to be a golden move. Totally unintended, but we won't tell anyone else. Deal?

And now I am really really really going to enjoy my vacation, okay?