I sent my esteemed (and single, hint, hint) colleague Lizette Beard an email yesterday. What I got back was quite possibly the best OOO email I’ve ever seen.

Here is the original email. It was later edited — see below.

(Out of the office…making snow angels, ice skating, eating a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookie dough as fast as I can…)

Wait, that’s Buddy the Elf’s holiday schedule, not mine! But, I am unavailable until after the New Year as I prepare for my January classes and spread Christmas cheer across Northwest Arkansas.

But where does that leave you?

Real quick–glance through these emergency scenarios and see if there is a solution that matches. (If you don’t EVEN have time for that – email Kevin on our team – kevin.walker@lifeway.com.)

Situation 1: You need help with using CPCA or TDA, start with one of these videos

• CPCA getting started video (just over a minute and a half) OR CPCA Helps Page
• TDA getting started video (just a minute and one second long) OR TDA Helps Page 
• That’s going to cover just about everything. If not, email kevin.walker@lifeway.com

Situation 2: You are just now getting around to signing up your organization for an account on CPCA. 

• First of all, kudos to you! Just email kevin.walker@lifeway.com with your name and organization and he will give you a call to walk you through the process. It’s pretty simple and this a great time of year to knock that out. 
  

Situation 3: Something has gone awry with the purchase process for one of the tools. Customer Service is who you want to talk to. (With it being the holiday season, keep in mind there may be a bit of a wait or days they would be closed.) But, they are great folks and will take great care of you.) Personally, I prefer the online chat support because I can do other stuff while they are helping me.

LifeWay.com Technical Support

• (866) 627-8553
• Hours: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. CT 
• Monday – Friday

Chat support is also available

• Live Online Chat Support
• Monday – Wednesday: 07:30 AM – 05:00 PM CDT
• Thursday: 09:15 AM – 05:00 PM CDT
• Friday: 07:30 AM – 05:00 PM CDT
• Saturday – Sunday: Closed

Situation 4: You are having trouble getting into the holiday spirit and need some help deciding what you might want to cook? 

So glad you asked! Check out http://www.eunamaes.com/ – fun cooking blog by Amy Nelson Hannon (I used to babysit her!)

• Perfect Pie Dough: http://www.eunamaes.com/2013/11/tips-for-perfect-pie-dough.html
• Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie: http://www.eunamaes.com/2013/11/pumpkin-pie-week-cream-cheese-pumpkin.html
• Baking Evenly in Your Oven: http://www.eunamaes.com/2013/11/pull-up-stoolhow-to-evenly-bake-in-your.html
• Cookies! http://www.eunamaes.com/2013/12/white-chocolate-cranberry-chunkies.html

Merry Christmas everyone! Thankful for each most of you. Sorry SPAMMERS!

I thought it was a great email, so I tweeted out that others needed to email Lizette just to get it back. And boy did they.

More than 40 emails later—some from people who googled her email address—I received a notification that the email had been updated. It now includes:

Situation 5: You are wanting to jump into using social media but don’t know where to start? Email Jonathan.Howe@lifeway.com with any burning questions you may have. He’s a trooper and may have some extra time during this holiday break.

She fought fire with fire. Thankfully no one has taken her up on the offer. Anyway, that’s the kind of fun we have at work. We work hard, but have a great deal of fun at the same time.

Have you ever seen an OOO response like this? Do you just use the stock response? Share in the comments below.