Use case: Logistics, Scheduling & Event Planning
Instruction type: Conditional
Prompt style: Context prompting

Prompt:
I run an Indian restaurant that has a very diverse staff which creates some scheduling conflicts. While smaller places may have people who are cross trained FOH/BOH, a lot of our BOH staff are from foreign countries and don't have the English fluency to work FOH so we can't do that. In the same way, some of our BOH staff can't prep pork for religious reasons but we prep and serve a Pork Vindaloo every day. I'm trying to create a schedule that works for everyone right now but here are my constraints:

Our daily staff coverage needs look like this:
- Morning BOH (7am-2pm) 2-3 staff
- Night BOH (2pm -10pm) 2-3 staff (including dishwasher)
- Morning FOH (9am-3:30pm) 2 staff
- Night FOH (3:30pm-10pm): 3 staff (unless we are training or have less experienced staff, then we need +1)
- No dishwasher in morning
- Every night shift needs a dishwasher, we have people who are willing to dish listed in their employee info

Operating hours:
BOH: 7am-10pm daily (BOH prep before we open as well)
FOH: 9am-10pm

Mandatory requirements:
- We need to prep the pork for pork vindaloo every day, morning or night shift—but some employees can't dot his obviously. We just need one person who can per day.
- At least one SafeSERV certified person must be on premises during all operating hours (7am-10pm)
- Weekend shifts (Fri, Sat, Sun) must include at least one FOH staff with 1+yr experience due to high volume 
- Weekday BOH shift needs one staff member with at least 6+ months experience to act as a shift lead in case problems with prep arise.
- Weekend BOH morning does not need a shift lead as all the prep-heavy work is done on the weekdays, it's okay to leave newer staff alone on weekend mornings without shift lead.

Other scheduling nuances:
 If Sarah is scheduled for more than 48hrs in a week she must have at least one full weekend day off, Saturday or Sunday. She wants a lot of hours but we also have to give her time to rest or else she will burn out.

If no SafeSERV BOH are working in the morning then we need to schedule a SafeSERV certified FOH to come in at 7 instead of 9.

If Friday or Saturday night have 2 servers with less than a year of experience, we need 4 servers instead of the usual 3—the newer staff struggle with volume otherwise.

If Carlos works more than 3 nights a week, at least one of those has to be as a BOH cook and not a dishwasher—we want to develop Carlos skills in the kitchen and make him feel valuable to the team as well.

Here are our staff records I need you to make a schedule from:

**STAFF RECORDS**

**BACK OF HOUSE STAFF**

**Marcus Chen**

Position: Line Cook

Experience: 2 years (hired May 2023)

Available: Monday-Friday only, 7am-2pm shifts

Religious restrictions: None - can prep pork

SafeSERV certified: YES

Notes: Very reliable, prefers not to work weekends due to family time

**Ahmed Hassan**

Position: Line Cook

Experience: 8 months (hired April 2025)

Available: Monday-Friday, can only work 2pm-10pm (has ESL classes in mornings)

Religious restrictions: Cannot handle pork products

SafeSERV certified: YES

Target hours: 40/week

**Raj Patel**

Position: Line Cook

Experience: 4 months (hired August 2025)

Available: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday - morning shifts only (7am-2pm)

Religious restrictions: None - can prep pork

SafeSERV certified: No

Notes: Has another job, limited availability but very skilled

**Yusuf Ali**

Position: Line Cook

Experience: 10 months (hired February 2025)

Available: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday - evening shifts only (2pm-10pm)

Religious restrictions: Cannot handle pork products

SafeSERV certified: YES

Target hours: 32/week

**Carlos Rodriguez**

Position: Cook/Dishwasher (flexible)

Experience: 1.5 years (hired June 2024)

Available: Monday-Tuesday morning (7am-2pm), Friday-Sunday nights (2pm-10pm)

Religious restrictions: None - can prep pork

SafeSERV certified: No

Notes: Can work either BOH or dish as needed, very versatile

**David Park**

Position: Dishwasher (primary)

Experience: 6 months (hired June 2025)

Available: Monday-Friday nights only (2pm-10pm)

Religious restrictions: None - can handle pork if needed for prep

SafeSERV certified: No

Target hours: 40/week

Notes: Can assist with basic prep work during dish shifts

**Ibrahim Mohamed**

Position: Line Cook

Experience: 5 months (hired July 2025)

Available: Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday - night shifts (2pm-10pm)

Religious restrictions: Cannot handle pork products

SafeSERV certified: No

Target hours: 32/week

 **Dmitri Volkov**

 Position: Line Cook

 Experience: 2 months (hired October 2025)

 Available: All days, can work either morning (7am-2pm) or night shifts (2pm-10pm)

 Religious restrictions: Cannot handle pork products

 SafeSERV certified: No

 Target hours: 30-40/week

 Notes: New hire, eager to get hours, very flexible with schedule, still learning

**FRONT OF HOUSE STAFF**

**Sarah Johnson**

Position: Server/Assistant Manager

Experience: 3 years (hired January 2023)

Available: All days, can work mornings (9am-3:30pm), nights (3:30pm-10pm), or doubles

SafeSERV certified: YES - Manager certification

Target hours: 40-48/week (salaried assistant manager position)

Notes: Full-time employee, very experienced, willing to work weekends but needs work-life balance

**Emily Martinez**

Position: Server

Experience: 1.5 years (hired June 2024)

Available: Monday-Friday only, night shifts (3:30pm-10pm)

SafeSERV certified: No

Target hours: 32-35/week

Notes: Cannot work weekends due to second job

**Jessica Lee**

Position: Server

Experience: 3 months (hired September 2025)

Available: Wednesday-Sunday, morning shifts only (9am-3:30pm)

SafeSERV certified: No

Target hours: 30-35/week

Notes: College student, newer hire, still learning

**Michael Thompson**

Position: Server

Experience: 2 years (hired October 2023)

Available: Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday - prefers night shifts (3:30pm-10pm) but can come in early if needed for coverage

SafeSERV certified: YES

Target hours: 32-35/week

Notes: Prefers to sleep in but willing to cover morning gaps when necessary

**Anna Kowalski**

Position: Server

Experience: 2 months (hired October 2025)

Available: Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday - can work either shift

SafeSERV certified: No

Target hours: 25-30/week

Notes: College student, very new, still training

**Tom Wilson**

Position: Server

Experience: 6 months (hired June 2025)

Available: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday - night shifts only (3:30pm-10pm)

SafeSERV certified: No

Target hours: 25-30/week

Notes: Has another job, limited availability

**Lisa Nguyen**

Position: Server

Experience: 1 year (hired December 2024)

Available: Monday-Wednesday and Sunday, night shifts only (3:30pm-10pm)

SafeSERV certified: No

Target hours: 30-35/week

Evaluation criteria:
The response should provide a staffing schedule for the restaurant.
The response should schedule 2-3 BOH staff members to all morning shifts.
The response should schedule 2-3 staff members to BOH night shifts.
The response should schedule a dishwasher in every BOH night shift. The staff who are employed as dishwashers are David Park (main dishwasher) and Carlos Rodriguez (flexible cook/dishwasher).
The response should schedule 2 FOH staff for every morning shift.
The response should schedule a staff member who is capable of preparing pork every day of the week. The staff members who can prep pork are: Marcus Chen, Raj Patel, Carlos Rodriguez and David Park. The staff who cannot due to religious reasons are: Ahmed Hassan, Yusuf Ali, Ibrahim Mohamed and Dmitri Volkov.
The response should schedule at least 3 FOH staff members for all night shifts on Monday-Thursday and Sunday.
The response should not require a shift‑lead with 6 + months experience for weekend BOH morning shifts.
The response should explicitly schedule a SafeSERV certified employee during all operating hours from 7am-10pm every day, without asking for clarification. The SafeSERV certified staff members are: Marcus Chen, Ahmed Hassan, Yusuf Ali, Sarah Johnson and Michael Thompson.
The response should, in the schedule, have a shift lead with 6+ months of experience during all weekday morning BOH shifts. The staff members who have 6+ months of experience are: Marcus Chen, Ahmed Hassan, Yusuf Ali, David Park and Carlos Rodriguez. The staff members who do not qualify are: Raj Patel, Ibrahim Mohamed, and Dmitri Volkov.
The response should, if scheduling two or more servers with less than 1 year experience on Friday or Saturday night shifts, schedule 4 FOH staff members instead of three. In other words, if two or more of the following people are scheduled for Friday or Saturday night shifts, 4 FOH in total should be scheduled:  Jessica Lee, Anna Kowalski, and Tom Wilson.
The response should schedule Sarah Johnson with at least one complete weekend day off (either Saturday OR Sunday) if she is scheduled for more than 48 hours in the week. Note that if there is overlap on the same day for her schedule, the response should not count it as 2 entries. For example, if Sarah is scheduled from 7 am - 2 pm and from 9:30 am - 3:30 pm on the same day, it should count as 8.5 hours (7 am - 3:30 pm).
The response should schedule Carlos Rodriguez in a BOH cook role (not dishwasher) for at least one shift if he works more than 3 night shifts in a week. For example, if Carlos works 4 night shifts, at least one must be as a cook.
The response should only schedule staff members on days and shifts when they are explicitly available according to their staff records. For example, Marcus Chen is only available Monday-Friday mornings so he should not be scheduled weekends. 

The staff availabilities are as follows:
Back of House (BOH) Staff:
• Marcus Chen: Monday-Friday, 7am-2pm only
• Ahmed Hassan: Monday-Friday, 2pm-10pm only (has ESL classes in mornings)
• Raj Patel: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, 7am-2pm only
• Yusuf Ali: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 2pm-10pm only
• Carlos Rodriguez: Monday-Tuesday 7am-2pm, Friday-Sunday 2pm-10pm
• David Park: Monday-Friday, 2pm-10pm only
• Ibrahim Mohamed: Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday, 2pm-10pm only
• Dmitri Volkov: All days, can work either 7am-2pm or 2pm-10pm

Front of House (FOH) Staff:
• Sarah Johnson: All days, can work 9am-3:30pm, 3:30pm-10pm, or doubles (9am-10pm)
• Emily Martinez: Monday-Friday only, 3:30pm-10pm only (cannot work weekends due to second job)
• Jessica Lee: Wednesday-Sunday, 9am-3:30pm only
• Michael Thompson: Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, prefers 3:30pm-10pm but can come in early if needed for coverage
• Anna Kowalski: Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday, can work either 9am-3:30pm or 3:30pm-10pm
• Tom Wilson: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, 3:30pm-10pm only
• Lisa Nguyen: Monday-Wednesday and Sunday, 3:30pm-10pm only
The response should not schedule 4 FOH staff on Friday and Saturday evenings if there are not two servers scheduled with less than 1 year of experience. The FOH servers are listed with their experience: Sarah Johnson (3 years), Michael Thompson (2 years), Lisa Nguyen (1 year), Jessica Lee (3 months), Anna Kowalski (2 months), Emily Martinez (1.5 years) and Tom Wilson (6 months).
The response should not include a dishwasher position on the schedule for any morning shift.
The response should schedule at least one FOH staff member with 1+ year of experience on all weekend shifts (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). The FOH staff with 1+ year of experience are: Sarah Johnson (3 years), Emily Martinez (1.5 years), Michael Thompson (2 years), and Lisa Nguyen (1 year)
The response should schedule a SafeSERV certified FOH member (Sarah Johnson or Michael Thompson) to begin their shift at 7am on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. This is because no SafeSERV certified BOH staff (Marcus Chen, Ahmed Hassan, Yusuf Ali) are available for the morning shifts on those days.