Unemployment is a tricky little bitch to deal with.
Endless hours of scouring job sites trying to find things to apply for (if for no other reason than to feel you've accomplished something), having afternoons free and losing all track of days and dates unless you live with someone who is working to at least differentiate between weekends and weekdays. It's not all bad, though. Being able to catch matinee showings, having time to volunteer and play and explore hobbies and other options are all great things... Until the bills come rolling in.
Apparently personal growth has its price.
This all leads to the strange world of unemploymen-nomics. Malcolm Gladwell can start puckering up now, because this untapped corner of the economic world needs a little light and I got here first.
It's a strange enough economy for young folks without kids. A life with dinners out, extravagant cable TV options and random crap bought for unknown reasons. Unemploymen-nomics is even stranger.
Take this simple exercise:
Let's say your car, truck or SUV is perched on 'E' as you pull up to the pump. Do you?
a.) Fill up the tank a quarter of the way.
b.) Fill it up halfway.
c.) Fill it to the top.
Now, without even thinking about it, this is probably a tougher question than it appears. I've done the quick math in my head of when I get paid, what bills are hanging in some online system, how often I plan on driving in the next 48 hours and if I can find cheaper gas to or from work. All of these factors are out of play in the unemployed world.
None of them really matter because you have no income. So, $35 today is the same $35 next week - it is a finite pool of cash that keeps lowering every time you make any purchase. With this in mind, you're more likely to say, 'Screw it,' and fill the tank.
Where is all of this going? I tend to think you spend even more when you're unemployed because of crap like this. Not to mention, you're buying more food because you're home all the time and if you have my supreme gift for self-delusion, you make concessions like, 'Oh, if I have to be stuck home, I should at least get a new video game.' or 'For 10 bucks, I should go catch a movie... life's bad enough with no job, it'd be good to get my spirits up.'
King Kong starts in a half hour at the Mall of America theater.
