I love weird news, and I cover news in one of the weirdest markets there is. The things people do never cease to amaze, confound, and entertain me.

Plus, because I work the night side of things, I can do weird things, like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqpqfb1ouVE

 

But one of my friends just landed the ideal job.

She’s about to graduate law school, and the firm that she’ll eventually join is offering her $60,000 to take the first year off.

Seriously!

Here’s an article in the New York Times that talks about this trend: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/nyregion/13bigcity.html

 

Basically, the firms have decided that to save costs, they’ll pay their staff some smaller percentage of their salary, to not show up. 

Sweet deal right?

And now my friend’s biggest concern is what she’ll do for the year!

 

Unfortunately, she’s been trained to be a lawyer, and now her job will be to NOT be a lawyer, so she’s a bit out of her depth.

 

The really unfair thing about this is that I’ve been training to NOT be a lawyer for years – I am way more qualified for the position than she is.  Not only have I NOT been to law school, I have spent my entire working career NOT being a lawyer.  I am in NO way qualified to practice law in ANY state, and, what’s more, I have a lot of ideas about what I would do with a year off and $60 Grand.

 

If this position is ever advertised, I’m a shoe-in to get it, in the meantime, I’m going to try to come up with a list of ideas for my friend…

 

What would you do with a year of paid vacation at $60,000 a year?