Out-of-Office Replies Offer Venue to Boast, Swagger and Mislead.

Focuses on status in the workplace with a particular focus on the out-of-office e-mail reply messages. Description of an out-of-office reply and how it reminds others in the workplace the importance of the person; Excerpts from several automated-reply messages received by Pat Dugan, who perceives them as status symbols for the sender; Methods by which individuals can ignore e-mail messages, instant messages and cell phone calls; Perception of self-importance the out-of-office replies leave with others in the workplace; Humorous re-writes of the out-of-office messages, imagined by co-workers.