Monday, July 28, 2008

President's automatic email reply

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is having vacation from now on until 21 August. How nice, he gets to go like everyone else. I thought president will work 7/7 the whole year. Even if they take a short break, it will be just for a couple of days, but he is taking always a month off. I presume he has set up the automatic email reply function?

From: Nicolas.Sarkozy@gouv.fr

I'm out of the office from 29 July to 21 August. I will be traveling around with my stunning wife. During this period, please contact the below persons or follow my wise advices:

1. For issue related to Europe - my close friend Angela Merkel
2. Issues related to Israel, Palestine, North Korea, Iran, Iraq - my new buddy Barack Obama
3. Strike - there will be no strike since everyone is on vacation in France
4. Shrinking purchasing power - Eat less and work more
5. Striking oil prices - practice health life style: use public transport, bicycle, work to your desire destinations
6. Retirement reform - it's done, retirement age will be increased to 65
7. Medical care reform - take good care of yourself, don't get sick
8. Youth alcohol and drug abuse - let them do it, they will grow up one day
9. Anti-France sentiment in China - Don't worry, I will handle it during my present for the Olympics opening ceremony, worst come to worst, I will charm the Chinese with my wife's songs
10. Others - refer to those still slaving in the government agencies

Sincerely, each time I send out an email to a group, there will have tons of automatic reply like this. I have never worked in an environment that around half of the workforce are on vacation. Vive la France!

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:50 AM

    haha..it crack me up.

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  2. LOL..same here..tons of automatic replies in summer ;)

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  3. Good one Bee. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Anonymous9:26 AM

    good sense of humour u got!! very funny..... i also made an auto reply for my email account, I wonder if people will crack up when they read it....:p

    I think summer holidays are in the european tradition... here in switzerland, many shops are closed due to the vacations.

    Personally I think that the long holidays here would allow the families to get some close family time, and not just work work work.... I remember when I was working in MY, the max leave day I took was only 3 days.... well, basically, that means I spent most of my time to work and barely have social life. I am grateful that now I have more time besides work.

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  5. Kasihan Natalie. I know that doctors in Malaysia have to work very hard but didn't know until this level. I think France can offer you a better life style then. As for family time, my siblings all live very close by so when I was there I see time every weekend. Didn't need to wait for summer holiday. Here in France, we see the in-laws at least once a month. During summer they go for holiday so we actually see them less.

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  6. Anonymous11:53 PM

    When u will be more settled down, with kids, jobs etc.... summer holidays are really a big gift!!

    but meanwhile be positive about ur experience now, I am sure it will be a memorable moment later on in ur life.

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  7. Sure, with a job, I can enjoy a lot of things. Being unemployed, how to talk about leisure events?

    It sure will be a memorable experience. I have never felt so unless/small/rejected in my life. I hope all this will be over soon.

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  8. Anonymous8:32 PM

    Bee Ean,
    I think I will have to go through the same situation/feeling like you (if) one day we move to France too.
    But, don't worry. I am sure you will get something!

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