{"id":"wri-off-out-of-office-message","audience":"office","category":"writing-emails","technique":"constraints","title":"Write an out-of-office reply that sends people to the right person","free":false,"task":"Write your out-of-office auto-reply in under 45 words, plain text. Give your actual return date, then route people: one contact for invoices and one for everything else, each with an email. No 'limited access to email', no 'I will respond upon my return', and no exclamation marks. Write a prompt that gets that message.","materialLabel":"Your notes (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"OUT OF OFFICE - notes (me: Carla Nguyen, Office Manager, Brightwell Dental Group)\n\nAway: Monday, Dec 22 through Friday, Jan 2.\nBack: originally Monday, Jan 5. Changed: I'm taking Jan 5 too (dentist + kid's school thing). Back Tuesday, Jan 6.\n\nWho covers what:\n- Invoices and vendor payments: Raj Patel, raj.patel@brightwelldental.example\n- Everything else (supplies, building, scheduling issues): Tina Moore, tina.moore@brightwelldental.example\n- Emergencies after hours: the building manager's line, 555-0177. Raj says vendors call it for everything.\n\nI won't check email at all. Last year I wrote \"I'll have limited access to email\" and people expected answers.","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":45},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for \"under 45 words\" and it often lands well over.","fix":"Cap each part: \"3 sentences, each under 14 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]},{"title":"Using the old return date","why":"Your notes list Jan 5 before you added the extra day.","fix":"Say it: \"I'm back Tuesday, Jan 6.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Vague routing","why":"The AI writes \"contact my colleagues\" without who handles what.","fix":"Add: \"Invoices: Raj Patel. Everything else: Tina Moore. Include emails, not the after-hours line.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Stock auto-reply lines","why":"AI writes \"I'll have limited access to email and will respond upon my return!\"","fix":"Add: \"No 'limited access', no promise to reply, no exclamation marks. Plain text.\"","checks":["r2","plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Sets a word limit","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","word (limit|count)"]},{"label":"Uses the right return date","patterns":["jan(uary)?\\s*6","tuesday"]},{"label":"Routes by topic","patterns":["invoices","raj","tina","everything else"]},{"label":"Bans stock lines","patterns":["limited access","upon my return","exclamation"]},{"label":"Asks for plain text","patterns":["plain","no bold","no markdown","no formatting","no headings"]}],"hint":"Good auto-replies route people instead of making promises. Give the AI the real return date, who covers what, and the lines to skip.","rubricLabels":["Gives the return date as Tuesday, Jan 6 (not Monday, Jan 5)","Routes invoices and vendor payments to Raj Patel (raj.patel@brightwelldental.example) and everything else to Tina Moore (tina.moore@brightwelldental.example), and does not include the 555-0177 line","Contains no 'limited access to email', no 'respond upon my return' (or similar promise to reply), and no exclamation marks"]}