Your correct, it isn't funny, but when the Social Security administration decided my wife's uncle was already dead and he needed to pay back benefits they sent, she had them talk to him on the phone, where they tried to explain to them that because he was dead he needed to payback excess benefits.
This is what happens when computer screens turn humans into robots. We need more academic studies of "irregular operations", the term used by the airline industry for any event where unpredictable real-world events intrude on planned schedules. At such times, senior human customer service agents are empowered to override computer models, with later reconciliation.
The field is called "Operations Research". I had the pleasure of meeting Dr Cook in the speaker lounge right before he gave this keynote at Velocity 2012:
