Have you ever got back after long weekend break / a holiday and your email in-box is full to bursting point? What to do? I’m sure the thought of clicking “delete all” is swimming around your mind!
Thanks to your auto-responder, everyone knows you were out of the office. But what about on those occasions when you overlooked mails or put off writing back until later and then simply forgot about them? Here are a few phrases to hopefully smooth things over. First of all, GROVEL something like:
“I apologise for not replying/getting back to you any earlier but .. ” or
“I’m (terribly/so) sorry, that I didn’t get around to write back before but ..”
Secondly, EXCUSE (make it a good one – hard work is always a good start)
“I’ve been very busy lately”.
“I’ve been in endless meetings in the last few days.”
“I’ve been on a lot of business trips in the last few weeks.”
“I’ve had a lot to do / on my plate recently.”
“I’ve been snowed under with work.”
And the best till last – “I’m covering for / standing in for my boss / a colleague.”
Hope they work! If not, don’t look at me!!!
to be full to bursting point (zum Bertsen voll sein), to put sth off (etw verschieben), to smooth things over (Schönwetter machen), to grovel (um Gnade winseln), to have a lot on my plate (viel am Hals haben), to be snowed under with work (mit Arbeit zugeschüttert sein), to cover for sb / stand in for sb (Jdn vertreten)