I had Indian spinach and potatoes for lunch. And now I'm watching Oklahoma, which my Tivo decided to record.

Seriously, Sophia? Your co-worker is in no way either smart or kind. You should stop giving her the benefit of the doubt and start ignoring her except if she needs something work related. She sounds like an idiot.

She's really kind to me. She found out she was my neighbor and that I take the bus, and now she drives me to and from work, and sometimes to the grocery store. She has given me clothes that no longer fit her. She raised her sister's kids when her sister crapped out on them, and has spent her adult life (even before the kids) caring for her mentally challenged brother. Now she is in her fifties, and in a low level job, and I think she had anger and resentment issues from doing all this for her family that have been whipped into a frenzy by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, which she watches religiously.

I'm eating a bowl of penne carbonara the size of my head. Which I can do because I'm pregnant and nobody will dare judge what I eat. Hooray for my human parasite!

Now I'm really hungry, but it's so steamy downstairs I don't even want to venture into the kitchen. Come on, rain.

I think she had anger and resentment issues from doing all this for her family that have been whipped into a frenzy by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, which she watches religiously.

She may be kind, then, but she's not smart if she's working herself into panic without a textual cite.

not sure if that is possible

My sister, who has been out of a job for a year now, only decided not to apply for a entry-level baking job at the local grocery store because she was making more on unemployment than that job would have paid. Then again, she was working in IT beforehand, so her unemployment is higher than most, but is still about half of what she was bringing home before. If it wasn't for her husband's salary, she wouldn't be able to live on unemployment.

I read somewhere that the average unemployment check per month is around $1300. Next time you hear someone say that unemployment just encourages people to not work, ask them if they could live on $1300/mo. to pay all of their expenses.

This is because her brother-in-law apparently makes more money on unemployment than he does working (not sure if that is possible) and is excited about being unemployed because he and his wife can go out more.

I hear this from a lot of people, and it's usually because their brother or sister are "gaming the system."

Here's what I suspect is going on. Person A with the "deadbeat" sibling has never really had trouble holding down a job, feels like they are a hard worker, and have probably felt like they sacrificed things to keep their jobs (more face time at the office, so less time out or whatever).

Sibling may prioritize differently. So working crazy hours is not worth the security (in your bosses case that may be that for boss's brother, spending time with his wife is more important than taking a minimum wage crazy hours job.

Add a dash of sibling resentment, and this all comes out as "My brother loves unemployment! It means he and his wife can party all the time!" when the reality is probably more like, "My brother can't find a job that makes it worth quitting looking for a good job, at least they aren't destitute and are able to have a roof over their heads. He is grateful he gets to spend more time with his wife."

When I was on unemployment I think it was about $200-250/week. If we hadn't been childless back then there's no way we could have lived on it. (And even then, I went back to temping almost immediately.)

You might make more on unemployment ... if your previous job was part-time at minimum wage. Somehow, I don't think it works that way for most people.

And I watch Rush Limbaugh religiously. Really. I see him and start saying, "oh my God ... did he really say that? does he really think that? dear God in heaven, do people really believe this?"

Yeah, I was getting $388 (before taxes, but I didn't have them take any out and ended up only having to pay the feds about $800) a week on unemployment. My job before that paid me $690 a week after taxes. It was a huge comedown, but the fact I wasn't paying $400 a month in gas and for lunches, etc. really saved me a lot. The job I have now just barely pays more than unemployment after taxes, about $150 a month. I can live on it, but I have a second source of income of $6700 a year. I would have to give up a lot more (cell phone for a start) than I have if I didn't have that.