Please leave the vendor there for a day or so. The MMOs I have played do this, so how could it possibly be "common sense" for me to expect differently.
This is the part that frustrates me the most, just discovered this lovely little bug last night. As for the rest of your post, I can see where having limited time would make an on-your-schedule system more appealing. Personally, I'm enjoying the randomness of discovering what kind of content I should run for rewards when I…