So I was awesome foolish me enough to get a master's degree in professional writing and technical editing—with a dip in Rhetoric as well!—and not long after, a friend hit me up to ask if I could edit his 400-page manuscript for an RPG system he was sure would make him rich.

For this he wanted to take me out to a nice steak dinner, and if it made him rich he'd throw cash my way at that time.

I had to politely decline while explaining that he was asking me to do at least 20 hours of work if it was a SUPER-clean draft, more likely 40+, and quite possibly 80 or more depending on what the text needed...and even as a recent grad looking to build up my portfolio, I had already gotten multiple gigs at $35/hr doing that kind of work as side jobs in what little free time I had.

At that point in the conversation, we changed the subject and made plans to go see an upcoming heavy metal concert at the local Big Shitty Arena.