It didn't rain today, so I didn't have to work. Why don't you have to sit around and wait until it rains?
People can change the volume, the location and the composition of their income, and they can do so in response to changes in government policies.
I tend to get comfortable with the dialogue and find out who the person is in the script and try to hit that. People are sort of independent of their occupations and their pastimes. You don't play a politician or a fireman or a cowboy - you just play a person.