The small gigs were usually 6 ish months of employment , give or take , at part time jobs . Places such as major retailers or other popular commercial places like CVS . The only two jobs I had that were off the books were around or less than 6 months . My current job I ' ve been at for 6 and a half years . Prior to that I worked 6 months for the local government . For around 6 months or so prior to that I worked at a grocery store packing deliveries , etc . I ' m just unsure how far back and how detailed the history is prior to that . Many jobs I ' d leave for better working conditions , pay , or hours , etc . Other places , like the video store , shut down . A couple of other places laid me off one was a union issue where other people fought but I got in trouble since I wasn ' t in the union yet , the other stopped giving me hours because their equipment broke down and I was out if uniform for it Summer heat in a long sleeve black shirt , car had no AC , so I unbuttoned it a bit so I didn ' t die . But those layoffs were a long time ago . like st the beginning of the past ten years .