Here's the deal: I'm supposed to access the main database for our company and assign contractors to the slots where company employees have retired, resigned, or quit AWOL.

Our database is no different, I'm sure, from yours. There are several files of employee data, ranging from basic assignment to daily absence listing.

I ran the absence listing, which indicates, among other minutiae, whether or not the employee position is occupied or open. Presumably then I can assign an appropriate contract employee to the open slot.

Good theory, right? In order to specify the requestion for the contract company, I accessed the database file that defines the position. What did I see? A company employee listed for nearly every supposedly "Open" position.

So the two files do not correlate, and I don't know which (if either) is correct. And I have a sneaking suspicion that there are additional open positions which were not listed at all on the absence report. I hate it when amateurs, not detail-oriented, are in charge of a database.

Good morning, Lost Angeles.