There was a rich bookie who had an accountant who was accused of mismanaging his business affairs. And the bookie called in the accountant and said, "Hey, man, what's this I hear about you? Turn in the books, you're fired!" The accountant thought, "What shall I do? I won't qualify for unemployment and I am too proud to go on welfare. I know what I'll do, I'll make sure that enough people owe me that I won't have to worry when I start looking for another job."

He called in all of the bookie's clients, one by one. "How did you do on your last bet?" he asked the first. "I lost $3,000," the man told him. "Let me check that on the computer," the accountant said. "That's what I thought, there was a mistake in the point spread on that game. You only owe $1,500." The next man was in arrears on several losing bets. "How much do you owe all together?" the accountant asked him. "Ten thousand dollars," came the reply. The accountant smiled at him and said, "Pay me 80 cents on the dollar and the slate is clean." And so it went, until the accountant had enough people in his debt that he could be certain of landing another job. When the rich bookie found out what his former employee had done, he bought him a drink and congratulated him on his shrewdness.