Woman includes link to self-help books in out-of-office email reply: ‘Am I going to get fired?’

Email recipients who click ‘for all other issues, click here’ are directed to page to buy self-help books

A woman has jokingly questioned whether she is going to be fired from her job after she attached a link to self-help books in her out-of-office email.

Priscilla, who goes by the username @itspkav on TikTok, shared a video of her unique email reply on the app this week, where she questioned: “Guys are we really doing these or am I going to get fired?”

In the TikTok, Priscilla, a director of client operations, began by showing the message that will be sent to those who email her while she is off work, which states that she will be out of office with “limited access to email” until Monday 8 August.

The TikToker then included directions for contacting her coworkers regarding certain topics or questions, with Priscilla noting that those who have “campaign-related questions” can contact Kyla, while those who need assistance with content submission can contact Kat.

After including a line informing those with questions related to finance to contact Ellaine, Priscilla then included a final line of the email, which read: “For all other issues, click here,” with the words “click here” hyperlinked to the self-help book section on Amazon.

“Lemme know,” Priscilla added in the video of the caption, which has since been viewed more than 647,000 times.

In the comments, viewers were amused by the tactic, with many assuring Priscilla that they would laugh rather than be upset if they clicked the link, while others said they planned to copy the idea.

“I would giggle so much if I clicked on that,” one person commented, to which the TikToker replied: “And then fire me, or…?”

“I’m not even kidding I’m doing this now, thank you for making me seem funnier than I am,” another person said, while someone else wrote: “I’m about to go on maternity leave and I’m ridiculously tempted to do this…”

The out-of-office reply even prompted a response from the official LinkedIn TiKTok account, which wrote: “You’re really just helping them help themselves.”

While the general consensus was that the reply was “hilarious,” some viewers noted that it was also risky to send in a workplace setting.

“This is hilarious. You’re either going to get a raise or you’re getting fired,” one person commented, while someone else said: “Please people watching this, it’s funny but don’t actually do this.”

Woman attaches link to self-help books in out-of-office email reply (TikTok /@itspkav)

The video also received one comment that simply read: “Fired,” which Priscilla revealed made her second guess the email. “Okay one vote for fired may be all I need to not do this,” she wrote in response.

Earlier this year, Selena Rezvani, a leadership and self-advocacy expert went viral on TikTok after sharing the best ways to use time off and explaining why workers shouldn’t “justify” days off to their employers.

According to Rezvani, in addition to making sure to take PTO regularly, employees should also “set expectations up front”.

“You could say: ‘Knowing I’ll be out of the office Tuesday and Wednesday, here’s who is covering my projects while I’m unavailable, and who will be the point of contact for me. After this message, I will be offline and I will be back Thursday,’” Rezvani recommended, adding that it can also be useful to explicitly state whether you want to be contacted on your day off.