Laying on the love during a lay-off

We all know we are living in some difficult economic times.

In the past couple of months, I've known a couple of people who have been laid off.

In one scenario, it's not really going that well. A female acquaintance of mine lost her job in banking and her fiancee has basically been torturing her since her last day on the job. On her first day of unemployment, he basically told her that she was pretty much of waste of space when she didn't have a job.

On the other hand, when one of my male friends was laid off from his factory job for a couple of months, his wife began doing event planning and various arts and crafts to support the home.

Obviously, the first scenario is an example of what I don't believe a significant other should do when you lose your job. That's not even tough love. That's just tough.

Losing your job is something that is usually unforeseen. As such, it should be handled with care. That being said, I don't think once you get past supporting the person, the way you handle your partner varies depending on the type of person. If you are dating the easily self-motivated, a few days of sitting around meditating (or crying) over the lost job is all right because they will usually get over it and start trying to move forward in a positive direction. However, if you are dating the complete opposite, you may want to purchase some books on resume writing over the course of the pity party.

If your mate were to come home and tell you they were laid off, what do you think you would do? What do you think is the best approach? Have you ever been in such a situation before?