Right mix of defeatest attitude, friendly familiarity, and, best of all, he or she never commits to getting back with you. This was taken from a blog post by Michael Arrington and he removed all the personally-identifiable information (to protect the guilty/innocent).

You may find this example inspiring as you draft your "I am in the office, but can't be bothered with your email which is why my 'Out-of-Office' is perpetually set" message (aka, 4 Hour Workweek fame).

_______________________________________________________

Thank you for your message. I apologize in advance if I do not reply.

I admit it. My email response rates are lame. I have tried many different approaches and techniques, yet I fail. I read everything that comes in, and I swear I have the most sincere intentions of replying to all of you. But, alas, I suck.

I am spending more time than ever on the road these days. Working on private equity stuff, coaching startups, giving speeches, training for an Ironman this summer, and luckily, taking some vacation. The result has me logging in to Gmail much less frequently, which may, in fact, be a healthy development.

Thankfully, what used to be well over a thousand inbound messages a day is slowing now that I am an increasingly irrelevant unemployed vagabond and no longer holding any [XXXXXX] pursestrings. Hopefully, these trends will continue until my mom and dad are the only folks left sending me notes, and even then mostly to give me updates on the weather back in [XXXXXX].

If you are curious about what I am up to, or looking for clues as to where you can physically stalk me, try my Twitter stream at:twitter.com/[XXXXXX]. If we are actually buddies, friend me on Facebook. Though, be warned I log in over there even less frequently than here. If you are just looking for some cheap laughs, check out my brother [XXXXXX] ’s YouTube videos: http://youtube.com/[XXXXXX].

In any event, I do look forward to being in touch with all of you. For now, thanks for your patience.