Author: Rochelle Sy Chua

Jo forwarded me this inspiring message via email today. I wanted to share it with you as this is inspiring especially for me who’s struggling right now with all the stress that I’ve been feeling hehhe 😛

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails & told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.

The 1st day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out.

It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there. ” A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

I used to ignore forwarded emails & messages but recently, I have this renewed interest regarding those. Seems that most of the items are interesting to note and remember. Some are also very entertaining and can make you smile for the day.

Just like the one I’m sharing in this blog post. Usually when we go out of office, we leave a message in our outlook so our colleagues will know that we’re out and where they can contact us for emergencies.

Here are the best out of office email auto-replies (as shared in the forwarded email):

1. I’m currently out at a job interview & will reply to you if I fail to get the position.
2. I’m not really out of the office. I’m just ignoring you.
3. You are receiving this automatic notification because I’m out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn’t have received anything at all.
4. Sorry to have missed you but I’m at the doctors having my brain removed so that I may be promoted to management.
5. I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me until I return from vacation on 7/18. Please be patient and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.
6. Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the 1st 10 words & $1.99 for each additional word in your message.
7. The email server is unable to verify your server connection and is unable to deliver this message. Please restart your computer and try sending again. (the beauty of this is that when you return, you can see how many in-duh-viduals did this over & over).
8. Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system. You are currently in 352nd place and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.
9. Hi. I’m thinking about what you’ve just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.
10. Hi! I’m busy negotiating the salary for my new job. Don’t bother to leave me any message.

Please take note that this is just for fun! Use it if you want to but be ready & responsible for the consequences hehehe