I apologize for being so glib about my business rant… been stung by too many overpaid and underperforming executives who knew all the rules and none of the reasons. Your profession can be as noble as any. (If we scientists had more POWER, dare to say you’d be speaking more ill of US!)
The 60K was an insurance check, but it was issued on a lie that a family member told about how the house was damaged… so I could not cash it. Pretty clean-cut choice, really, other than the amount! *Sob*
You’ve really got your first business case-study on your hands… when does working within the bounds of what is allowed become unfairly manipulating the system? The fact that you are thinking about it so much already places you in the top quarter, as far as I can tell.