You are working part time at the mall cookie counter. Handing out samples of oven-fresh gingerbread, you get trampled in a stampede of hungry shoppers. A large, jolly bearded man steps on your foot and breaks your toe. You don't have health insurance through this job. You:

Pay the doctor out of your own pocket.

Try to collect workman's comp.

Sue the jolly old oaf.

You apply for a job in the front office of an entrepreneurial toy-making establishment. Even though you are much more qualified than the other applicants, you're only offered a job in the back room. What you do notice is that the front office is populated with teenage girls, while your work space looks like the church basement on bingo night. You:

Remind your employer that age discrimination is illegal. And actionable.

You're temporary, so the rules don't apply.

Realize it's wrong, but tough it out. You accepted the job.

You signed on for part-time work. But your scrooge of a boss has you working three 13-hour days a week -- one of which might even be Christmas Eve! At what point does overtime kick in?

The minute you work more than eight hours in one day.

The minute you work more than 20 hours in one week.

The minute you work more than 40 hours in one week.

According to federal law, at what age can your son or daughter drive the reindeer team in the wee hours of the night for your neighbor's home-based business?

14

16

18

Everybody on the job is putting in long hours trying to make the company's tight production and delivery deadlines. Who isn't getting overtime?

Temporary employees

Skilled craftsmen

The boss

Bob Cratchit's kid is sick again. You agree to sub for him, but his boss is paying you federal minimum wage for a 40-hour week. Your weekly gross will be:

$206

$240

$260

You and a group of friends get temporary jobs making toys. While you have to report to what must be the world's coldest workshop (can't the man afford to turn on some heat?), the boss wants to classify you all as "independent contractors." You:

Realize that the guy is playing fast and loose with the law. Leave and take your friends with you.

Reason that the guy is running his own business, has been for years and must know what he's doing.

Start a bonfire on the front lawn and toast marshmallows.