I've been a solo truck driver for three weeks now, and I have no regrets about taking this road.
A lowly occupation, perhaps? Not from my point of view. Truck drivers bear an enormous responsibility. Manoevering vehicles with a gross weight up to 80,000 lbs amidst a crowd of ever-more-zippy "four wheelers" - that don't appear to acknowledge ANY rules - can be quite frustrating. Should there be any mishaps of any sort, a court of law will always judge a truck driver more harshly than operators of passenger cars; because we are professional drivers.
Yes, we are in a big dang hurry, because we dont earn very much, and pay is usually a fraction of our loaded miles [more and more are also paid for empty miles]. Our haste, and our maddening slowness, is more than mitigated by the fact that more often than not, we are looking out for you on the road. There are some caveats that go along with that, of course. Don't expect any quarter if you have a poor grasp of right-of-way, don't grasp the concept of merging with traffic, etc. etc. Its our job to see as much as possible of what's going on around us, and diffuse or evade bad situations as they occur.
I saw The Matrix for the first time about two weeks ago, and bought the DVD about 10 days later. Today my ponderings wandered to the concept of bending spoons in the Matrix. The key is that there is no spoon, you effect change in the "physical" world by bending yourself. In a way, that's what I have done. I cast off the need to be a young professional chemist (or whatever) and bent myself in a new way. The world is different now, to me, at least. My paycheck for week two was just under $500 net. It wont always be that much, but thats not bad at all for a rookie. My bottom line is: Dude! I drive around and they actually pay me for it.
But bear in mind, I'm not one to shy from responsibility. This job ain't for everyone.
