Your boss comes in your office once a week and says theres a 5% chance that you’re getting that Nigeria job next month. After a year of living in fear and feeling like your fate is out of your control, you finally just volunteer for the sh_tty assignment. Doesn’t sound that irrational to me. In fact, if you live in base and bid a line, aren’t you the type that would rather work 15 Known and planned for days a month, rather than roll the dice working less on reserve?

it’s not that MT’s choice was rational or economically prudent, maybe he’s just the type of person who doesn’t do well operating in the unknown, especially when you’re talking about your 50s and 60s. A time when we’d all like to be doing a victory lap and enjoying the proverbial fruits of our labor (unless you’re a ditch digger who likes gardening, in which case it would be the literal fruits of your labor).