First job I worked for a guy repairing and restoring yachts stored at Janzten Beach. I was a skinny 14-year-old kid who could fit into small spaces so he'd use a laser pointer and talk me through repairs in places he was too fat to reach. It was great money, I had more than any 14-year-old should be allowed to have.
At 18 I talked my way into a job working at a music instrument repair shop for the largest music store in the Pacific Northwest. Good thing they didn't know that I couldn't play a dang thing and knew nothing about instruments or music. I learned quick and the job lasted a couple years while I tried to put myself through college.
Ended up having to help support my parents and siblings and I couldn't do that and support myself and go to college so I joined the Marine Corps to earn money for mom and pop and get the GI Bill to reach my dream of flying. These days I'm sitting pretty at a university making money off of grants, gi bill and the work study program.
I work at a VA hospital now pushing old vets around in wheelchairs and helping with various odd jobs. One time an old salt that I was carting around insisted that I was going the wrong way and taking him to the wrong department. This guy had a notorious reputation for being a dick towards all the staff so I guess that's why they stuck me with him. I assured him we were going to the right place. Old son of a gun looks up at me, growls, and says "Boy, I'm a US Marine and a combat veteran, I know where I'm going and you're not taking me the right way." I said "well, Sir, I'm a US Marine and combat vet too and you're an ornery son of a bitch." The guy laughed his ass off and we've been friends ever since. Turns out he served in the same battalion as my grandpa during the Korean War.