Unemployment

Unemployment.  We all fear it, we all will deal with it, we all will use it.  It's there, and it's meant to be used, but used responsibly.

Responsible uses of unemployment:

1) Your job has ended.  You weren't fired, you were laid off.  You're looking for work, but while out of work, you use unemployment to pay your bills because, well, you need to.

2) You're in-between jobs, or on hiatus from a job (common in the entertainment industry) and look for short-term jobs that fit your time off, but don't take a job that would interfere with returning to your normal job.  Fair enough, as you're being respectful to both your current and your potential jobs.

There are more responsible uses, I'm sure, but these are the two I see most often.  Now, what about a non-responsible method of using unemployment?

1) You get fired.  You claim you were laid off, and the company you worked for doesn't want to get into a fight and so agrees you were 'laid off', even though they simply replaced you with someone who could do the job.  You don't look for work, and would rather do what you did at the job you were fired from... nothing.

2) Your job ends, you're laid off, etc, and you're offered a job, but it doesn't pay much more than unemployment would, so why take it when you could get paid the same to do nothing?  COME ON.  Take the job.  You don't have to stick with it forever if you find something else, but don't use unemployment funds that other people need just because you don't want to work for the same cost as not-working.

Maybe it's the work-aholic in me, but in both situations, I'd much rather have a job that gave me something productive to do with my time, and allowed me to meet new people and experience new things, than to sit at home and do nothing, or putter around all day.  I guess I just don't understand that mentality of getting paid to do nothing.  Sounds boring to me!