I was asked an interesting question last night from one of The wifes's cousins - note that this is one of her cousins that I actually don't mind talking to and is the only one in his immediate family who's teeth aren't stained a brownish-yellow, he shaves, and although I'm not sure he combs his hair, he at least keeps it short enough to not look like a derelict (on the downside, he does like wearing an awful lot of comic book hero t-shirts). Anyway, he's wondering what he should do. He was laid off some time ago, but was given some money to go to school (not sure if it's some kind of loan or some type of severance thing he got). But, he collects unemployment and, as such, he's required to occasionally send out his resume. Now, some company wants to interview him, but he's not sure that he wants it b/c it would mean losing his unemployment checks and supposedly his school funding. Seems like perverse incentives to me.
Ironically, his wife is also on unemployment. We have her babysit our kids each week when we play volleyball. The first week, she made a comment that our agreed upon payment structure was below minimum wage, but I just kind of blew it off since: 1) we have other family members around (not to mention the half a dozen high school aged neighbors nearby), 2) she's unemployed, and 3) it's in cash. But, last night she was saying that she too was required to occasionally apply for jobs, but that she only applied for good ones b/c it's not worth it to trade her unemployment for minimum wage and/or she wasn't interested in crappy jobs like that. Oh, and this couple, both on unemployment checks, think they want to have a kid soon. At least they're responsible enough to already be married, I guess, and they have a house b/c she cashed in on some settlement from an auto accident. Good teaser for Thanksgiving...