The Fine Line

One of the guys in the office here has gone for a job interview today.
The boss doesn't know.
Now, to me it seems like a fine line between telling the boss that you're looking for work elsewhere, and not. I mean, taking into account this individual (which you, dear reader will probably not learn about any time in the immediate future), the boss might be glad to see the back of him.
And yet with the time, effort, and money spent on this individual to try to keep him happy in his job, the boss might feel pretty pissed to have lost him.
I guess it comes down to contribution.
Maybe you can compare this employee to a dog. You keep the dog around to guard the place but, in stead of barking at everyone that walks past the fence, the dog is more concerned with playing around on the internet and complaining about the quality of dog food, or the kennel he's kept in. But, considering the fact he does occasionally bark at passers by, and actually bites the odd wayward child that jumps the fence to collect a lost ball, you keep him around on the off chance he might up his barking and biting productivity.
Actually, that's probably not a good analogy.
Maybe he's more like a door mat. He's there to welcome people, and provide a service, but can't perform his foot-wiping abilities sometimes because he's spent most of his pay on going out on the weekend and getting pissed and now cant afford to drive around to different doors for people to wipe their feet on.
Then again... maybe I've missed the mark again.
Let me try once more.
He's probably most like an old-fashioned typewriter. He's got his uses: paperweight; novel writing; deadly projectile. However, whenever you want to use him for what he was originally designed for - writing - you find you've really got to punch the keys hard to get him to work properly, and you find you're putting in more effort than what you seem to be getting out. And when you want to use him as a paperweight, or want him to write his own letters, you find he's too busy emotionally abusing his wife, or he's out of ribbon, or that he's accidentally hit F and U at the same time and the swing arms are jammed together in a form of symbolic middle-finger extension.
That's not really right either.
And I'm probably being a bit harsh. He's good for a laugh, and can take a joke. He likes his job here and when he's inspired enough - he does seem to pull through.
Despite what the boss may be going through... I can't decide if it'd be a good thing or not, either.