Originally Posted by kowalski

Or in a more basic example, it's not like I could just go work in a random call centre for a month or two if I got into financial difficulty. After a few weeks I'd probably have tidied up enough and got used to the things customers say and so on... but that's not how employers hire. In the UK, I'd walk into any such role even if I was half asleep, in my PJs, insulted the interviewer and was visibly drunk.