At work, everybody has a small board near the entrance to their office which we use to tell people how or whether they can reach us; when we're consulting with a colleague we write the colleague's name on the board; when we're in a meeting we write the room number on the board; when we're on vacation we write the date on which we will return on the board - you get the idea.

A couple of days ago I emailed a lady I don't really know and got an ambiguous out-of-office reply, so I was wondering whether she was on long-term leave. I decided to stop by her office to see if she was there. She wasn't, but on her board was the funniest thing I've heard in a long time:

Having quarter removed from child. Working remotely.