This is super helpful — thank you. Here's how I think they can be solved: 1. Flagging special events by pulling from the booking system so the schedule doesn’t

This is super helpful — thank you. Here's how I think they can be solved: 1. Flagging special events by pulling from the booking system so the schedule doesn’t assume a “normal” Monday. 2. Tagging staff by skillset (large parties, wine, expo, etc.) so the optimizer doesn’t just fill slots but matches people to the right shifts. 3. Flexible availability instead of binary availability — things like “prefer not,” “can pick up if needed,” “no doubles,” “no clopens,” or “I already have a cover lined up.” 4. Transparent fairness — showing why someone got (or didn’t get) a shift, how hours were distributed, and what trade-offs were made so it’s not a black box. 5. Built-in shift-swap handling, since FOH often sorts coverage themselves before the manager ever touches it.