[lostcolony]

How about the alternative of alerting a person, who can then inquire as to why the vacancy? Or even, given that the person was expected to come back (it was Christmas break that they passed), the system allow for _why_ the person will not be coming back, and an option as to whether to seek to fill the vacancy, or keep it empty?

But that's neither here nor there either. This isn't necessarily about "what could the system have done better in this situation". It's highlighting that software ultimately leads to inhuman interactions; no person would have come in and said that. In fact, no person would know about the vacancy, without also knowing the reason for it (without either a system, which again highlights the problem, or another person, who would have explained the circumstances, being the one to deliver that information to them). And that's something we can work to improve, even if we can't address every possible instance.