This is exactly how I refer to my divorce.
I once got an application in the mail for a dating service (pre-internet). In the category of employment, the options were Student, Work full time, Work part time, and My time is my own.
Mistakes were made.
I was ‘displaced’ by my employer in December – certainly NOT laid off, oh not at all. I was, er… moved, from inside the door to outside. Oh yes, and my pay status changed.
I don’t get what you’re asking. Shepherd was a railroad employee, but that’s the only connection I see.
I hope this counts:
Back when I was working there had been some issues that caused a fair amount of bickering and complaining that stopped short of any formal protests or strikes (it was a non-union outfit) or anything drastic like that. Nevertheless, the president felt it an obligation to announce:
We Will Have No Unhappy Employees
Heh. I actually kind of like that one. It could have been better only if he’d said, “Quit yer bitchin’ or you’re fired!”
It was a lame joke about the underground railroad.
And of course the irony that the first guy to get killed was a black man that was already free is there.
Reminds me of when I often hear in Jeopardy! a particular contestant would be introduced as a “stay at home mom/dad/wife/husband”, which I’ve always thought was code for “currently between jobs” (although, yes, I know that several could actually be deliberately staying home with the kid(s)).
Myself, I’ve applied to be on the show (haven’t heard back yet) and my job is scheduled to end early this fall, I’ve told myself that if I get on the show when my job ends, I’ll see if they’ll introduce me as “unemployed bum”. 
I’ve reviewed a lot of resumes for IT positions. Every instance of “Independent Consultant” or “Contract Employee” that I saw were euphemisms for temporary short-term jobs while trying to find a permanent position, including things like fixing Uncle Henry’s printer for twenty bucks. Hey, I don’t have a problem with that. You’re trying not to look like a job-hopper while honestly trying the best you can to earn a living.
Kind of made me feel sorry for people who really were independent consultants, though.
How about ‘Working from home’?
In very many cases I’ve encountered, working from home actually means ‘shopping or playing golf, perhaps responding to the odd email on my Blackberry’
Those last two drive my wife nuts. She really is an independent consultant who works from home. And she makes a pretty penny doing it, too. But it always sounds like she just sits around all day.
For reasons that I hope will be obvious, this post sent me on a search for How to jazz up an unimpressive resume’ which got 13 replies starting on 04-24-2008, 09:22 AM in MPSIMS.
The “unemployed bum” terminology could be enhanced if you really don’t much care if you get the job or not, but on Jeopardy! it would get a good laugh if the producers would let you use:
Deadbeat Dad
Slacker
Escaped Convict
Registered Sexual Offender
Science Experiment
I’m pretty sure they’d hold back the Registered Sex Offender and just use it for the interview portion.
Alex: “Fortunately for our next contestant, there’s no school within 100 yards of the studio…”
The oddest Jeopardy intro I’ve heard was “gadabout.” Apparently, they used this instead of his preference of “bon vivant.” I always raise an eyebrow for “stay-at-home wife.”
Reminds me of the workplace sign, “The floggings will continue until morale improves.”
At the time of the Challenger disaster, NASA created “anomaly teams” to look into it. Not troubleshooters, no sir, because there was no trouble, just anomalies.
There’s also the “Boot Monument” at the Saratoga Battlefield:
Here’s the entire text:
What seems missing to you?
Yup, the name of the person being so honored. It was Benedict Arnold.
Not really lame, but a bit of bravado in a bad situation:
“Retreat, hell! We’re not retreating, we’re just advancing in a different direction.”
- Major General Oliver Prince Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division (often misattributed to General Douglas MacArthur)
A round of layoffs the company I work for recently had were referred to as “streamlining.”
I love this one.
AKA “wanking from home”.
Completely ahistorical, but lame excuse-making rises to the level of an actual art form in Robert Graves’ The Persian Version.