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In Amsterdam, Government Will Pay You in Beer & Tobacco


willworkforbeer.jpg
McBeth
Go Dutch, young man

I’ve been seeing signs that resemble non-ironic versions of the one above for years; now it seems at least one government-associated entity has decided to take that deal. Amsterdam’s Rainbow Foundation, a publicly subsidized organization to help the poor, homeless and mentally disabled, is finding great success in a program that gives people 5-6 beers a day, free lunch, half a packet of tobacco and ten Euros in exchange for picking up trash. (I can’t speak for Holland, but generally in Europe “a beer” means a pint, rather than the smaller 12-oz cans and bottles Americans are used to).

And here I thought blogging was the only job you could do on that many beers.

The cleaning teams are forbidden from drinking while out on the street, but Mr. Schiphorst and his work mates say they get enough beer before they set out in the morning and during their lunch break to keep them going.

The amazing part to me: the workday begins at 9 a.m. That’s counting on some functional alcoholics.

Now, if you want to get all the juvenile delinquents off the streets as well, start paying people in porn.

via Patterico