put.
PETER COYLE, CONVENTION CENTER PROJECT EXECUTIVE FOR DICK ENTERPRISES
"Me? At age 40? I'd turn it down," Coyle said. "I have three children, and one of them's entering St. Joe's Prep."
Along with family responsibilities, there's the unemployment rate to consider, he said. "Working in the construction industry, it's very slow right now. The economy's too jittery to take a chance on sitting out for six months."
ALFREDA SWINNEY-RICHARDS, PHILADELPHIA CITY ACCOUNTANT
At 33, and with the ambition of one day being her own boss, Swinney- Richards showed no such qualms. "I would take the money and start my own tax service," she said. "Sometime you need that little push to get yourself started. No job: that would be the push that would get me."
Before push came to shove, though, "I would go on a cruise," she said. ''Then, I'd be ready to start."
LESLIE HUBBARD, PARALEGAL AT SIMON W. TACHE
Hubbard, 36, said she'd just as soon leave the private sector for the public, specifically to counsel abused women. "My dream is social work," she said. "That's my calling."
In reality, though, no deal could convince her to quit the law firm.
"I'd keep my job without even a second thought. I started at the ground floor, and I've sacrificed too much."
GEORGE GATES, LICENSING SPECIALIST, ARA SERVICES
Gates, 42, also said he'd like to devote his life to a cause. "What I'd like to do is have enough money to support myself and run an AIDS hospice," he said. But since Gate's not independently wealthy and since the economy is so rocky, hewouldn't even dream of taking a buyout, he said. "I would be afraid."
