I've had this strange idea brewing in my head for the last few months that seems to have come out of nowhere. Or else it's a product of all those dating Web sites that make falling in love seem as easy as filling out a personality profile, or Reality TV's quasi-game shows where instead of winning a new dining room set you meet your future husband or wife. But as the boundaries between having a relationship and more neatly structured transactions, like, say, opening a checking account, get blurred, I've started to wonder what it would be like if dating was more like holding down a job.

E First to consider is the application process. Which I guess already kind of exists in the form of online profiles and newspaper personal ads, dating's version of a wanted poster. But just imagine you're at a bar, a hottie approaches you and gives you a really bad pickup line to which you nevertheless aren't totally averse, and the first thing you do is hand them an application. I could really get used to that idea. Gives you time to mull things over before you decide whether you want to set up an interview. Still, I bet applicants would lie a lot. Especially under the heading of `` previous employment.''

E An employee handbook would be useful too, with a detailed background of your partner's history, a list of duties that are expected of you, and all of the nasty things that could happen if you don't perform up to snuff.

E I have to wonder what the equivalent of a raise would be. Maybe better gifts on holidays. But I could really go for one periodically, especially if I'd been a particularly good girlfriend. Quarterly bonuses and sick days wouldn't hurt either.

E It'd be great if you could have a second relationship if and when you felt the need, kind of like having a second job, without getting in trouble. And also if you could decide to switch to part-time status without repercussions. Except, perhaps, the loss of benefits. E And how about some rules governing how and when you could be `` fired'' ? Like a specific number of verbal warnings, written warnings, and `` counselings'' you'd have to receive before you could get the boot, to sort of clarify things for the `` breaker-upper'' and soften the blow for the `` broken-up-with.'' All of your infractions could be kept in a handy little file for easy reference. Then again, maybe that file part isn't such a good idea.

E It'd be nice if there was something between breaking up and being together, kind of like being laid off. Where for whatever reason you're not on the love payroll, yet you don't feel like a total loser either.

I guess the main problem with this new arrangement would also be the main problem with the old one -- how do you decide who's the boss? Not to mention the fact that love's lack of rules and structure is what makes it, well, love.

I get the sneaking suspicion some TV exec is in his corner office right now, having dreamed up this idea long ago and now turning it into the draft for a pilot episode. So if you see previews for next season's newest reality show, `` Love For Hire,'' just remember, you read it here first.

STAFF WRITER LAUREN CARTER can be reached at lcarter@thesunchronicle.com.