Yes. My friend said that her assistant is likely going to need extended leave....more like 5 months! She wouldn't say what her condition was though. My friend also has no authority to hire or fire this person. She is not happy about having all this extra work to do, and no one to help her do it. I told her what you guys said here....she really can't stand her job right now, so she was happy to hear about Mercury going into a stronger sign...even if it does have to go retrograde for a while.
Will post again if and when her assistant ever does return.
thanks
pallasgirl

Shame we don't know what is actually wrong with the absent assistant.
I think there is a good case here for using 7th for her. The querent has no influence over the assistant's job, ie hiring/firing and she is not exactly fulfilling her assistant role (2nd) so 7th makes sense to me. I can understand the 2nd for the political chart mentioned. This situation is about ordinary people. So 7th is working for me : ) Thanks for the feedback.