A while back, I attempted to get back in the workforce at any possible level. Well, A courier company offered me a position, because I own a truck. The position was as an owner-operator. 55% of the fee, I'm responsible for my machine including gas, etc. Since I didn't have a TIN (Taxpayer ID Number - a number that is normally used for companies. You might call it corporation-lite. Very, very, very lite. No legal standing at all, just a number other than my Social Security number that can be used by people and organizations to report non-wage money they pay me to the tax people. They could just use my SSN, it would be entirely legal and several organizations do that, but it's one less bit of evidence if they have to prove I'm not an employee.) they counted me as an employee rather than as a contractor.

Worked it for about a month and a half. Worked hard. Enjoyed the work. Then I did the math to determine what I was making per hour. Turned out my cut was covering gas, but not maintainance. I was losing money on all but the long distance express runs, which were slightly better than break-even.

So, with regret, I quit.

The unemployment office does not consider a negative pay rate a legitimate cause. So I was no longer "unemployed".

Hmmm, maybe I ought to get one of them numbers. A bit more paperwork to file a few times a year, but it could come in handy.