"Are rostering people really evil?"
Well, we got rid of them and now our schedules (rosters) are calculated by a computer with a bidding system. So far it worked out quite well, but there might be assignments like this :
27.Dec00 : ZRH-OSL-ZRH,ZRH-MAD-ZRH 12:00 Duty with A320
28.Dec00 : Sim Check/Refresher
29.Dec00 : ZRH-LHR-ZRH,ZRH-GVA with A330
30.Dec00 : GVA-JFK with A330
31.Dec00 : JFK-
01.Jan01 : GVA,GVA-ZRH
I never saw any roster like this planned "manually".