re: We nearly fought at Christmas dinner over whether a truck driver is a professional

I have yet to meet a professional teacher, fun... yes... professional... no

I volunteered to drive a 32ft flatbed trailer for our homecoming parade. Borrowed a dooley truck from a local car dealership and used the flatbed from a local moving outfit. Driving on four lane or larger roads is probably not that hard. But moving through small town roads and having to turn without going into the other lane or fricking some shite up by cutting a corner to sharp is another monster all to itself. Much respect to professional truck drivers.

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professional courtesies

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Does his LinkedIn read “Big Marlon, PTD” and has he ever been pleased to announce/happy to share the completion of a minor certification?

If not, then he’s not a professional.

I once asked a public school world geography teacher if she knew the difference between the Balkans and the Baltics.

She was completely stumped and couldn't even give me the continent they were located on.

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I just don’t consider truck driving to be a professional occupation.

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I'm sure you'll trust any unprofessional drunk meth head to drive trucks to fill the shelves of your stores if it makes no difference.

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What professional courtesies is he seeking?

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He probably wants to put "CDL" after his name like doctors do with MD

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I once asked a public school world geography teacher if she knew the difference between the Balkans and the Baltics. She was completely stumped and couldn't even give me the continent they were located on.

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I’m sure every profession including doctors and lawyers can be stumped with random questions relative to such a specific and small part of their overall profession.

Teachers have a difficult job of trying to organized a group of kids from various levels of discipline and self control in an attempt to teach them something they have no interest in while also being limited to how they can talk and treat the kids. There are some really bad teachers, but there are also some really good ones. Teaching is a profession as there is constant changes and continuing education that must be done through the school system. I’m not a teacher or married to one but I have spent a considerable amount of time in an inner city school. I have respect for anyone that does it and remains sane.

A public school world geography teacher not knowing the location of the Baltics and the Balkans is a pretty serious indictment of her knowledge of the subject.

The question was not about some obscure Afghan village. It was about two large newsworthy heavily populated portions of EUROPE,

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I can’t think of anything that would make me more nervous than hauling shite like that.

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You and me both but that right there is the difference between a professional driver and what we have today. That shite is in his DNA and he couldn’t get enough of it. I was born in 73 and he was already in the profession. Spent countless weeks with him on trips during the summer time when I was growing up.
Go watch the movie Convoy. It is spot on as far as accurately depicting the trucker lifestyle and the type of people that did that job. The whole CB radio and trucker culture in the 70’s and 80’s was something else. But beyond that, these guys/gals were able to get these rigs into and backed up to some incredibly challenging situations that drivers today just don’t seem to have the capacity for. Hell, most of them have issue just driving down the highway. My dad absolutely hates modern day so called truck drivers.