I've heard this a million times before:

"Driving isn't for everybody".

It's a staple expression in the industry like the dentist's telling the patient to "open big now".

But neither is working for a living.

Does "driving isn't for everybody" mean "it probably isn't going to be for most" or "the odds are heavily stacked against you should you give this a whirl"?

One time I tried driving a cab. The company trainer on day one said "it wasn't for everyone" and I only lasted a week. Too much competition in the town I was in and no money was being made on my part. It was a loser except for the company collecting lease payments. Much like a casino: the house always wins on the losses of many. There were way too many cabs in the town competing. This was a little no-name company and not one "everybody knows" like Yellow Cab or Checker. No, it wasn't for me. If any job pays not enough money to make it worth while, then no, it isn't my bag. I was paying daily lease for the cab and for fuel out of my own pocket. I never got enough fares to break even. What this gypsy-run company does is just takes drivers' lease money for profit while drivers are turned over right and left. The owner and his two sons were arrogant arseholes too.

I've come to expect that whenever this cliche (something isn't for everybody) is thrown out it means there is a slim-to-none chance of making it.

 

Driving must be for YOU then, sir. YOU are YOU and not "everybody". Glad to hear that. God bless the job then! Whenever "driving isn't for everybody" is uttered it gives me the impression of a Marines recruiting campaign poster: The Proud, The Few, The American Truck Drivers...The highways, shippers and receivers are looking for a few good men (or gals).

 

Still, I can't think of any other station in life that pays as well this job pays, apples to apples, for the relative amount of physical toil, soul-tormenting, sweat, blood, busted knuckles, stress heart attacks, frazzled nerves, blown eardrums (often caused by loud human voices at close range), headaches, broken bones, shed skin, heartburn and brain-straining put into it. Truck driving at least doesn't make you seasick as a cargo ship makes a deck hand. I was on a party boat deep-sea fishing a couple of times in the 90's. I knew then and there sea life was not my bag. I'm glad the navy rejected me when I had applied several years earlier in the '80's. The army took me a few years later. I'm a born landlubber.