13 things Cosmopolitan knows about trucking

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Well, the trucking industry has officially hit the red carpet of grocery store magazines. That’s right, folks. There’s a write-up on none other than the Cosmopolitan website. “13 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Became a Long Haul Trucker” showed up in my trucking news feed alerts yesterday, and boy howdy am I glad I didn’t miss it.

Click through the image to read “13 things I wish I knew before I became a long-haul truck driver” on Cosmopolitan’s website. “Driver shortage” assumption alert for those who do, quoting No. 2: “2. Don’t stress out about finding a job. There’s a huge shortage of truck drivers…”Click through the image to read “13 things I wish I knew before I became a long-haul truck driver” on Cosmopolitan’s website. “Driver shortage” assumption alert for those who do, quoting No. 2: “2. Don’t stress out about finding a job. There’s a huge shortage of truck drivers…”

I am generally not a reader of Cosmo — I prefer to keep my self esteem intact, and frankly, I just don’t want to know how many ways there are to style armpit hair. (That’s really a thing, by the way. I careened off into the world of weird on my sidebar after reading this article and found that there are people who not only have time to groom their pit hair, they actually color-coordinate it with their sleeveless outfits. I wish I was lying.)

I have an alert set for anything that involves “trucking news,” so it popped up in my feed, and I had to check twice to make sure of what website I was on. It’s just really weird to see a “trucking” article under banners announcing that Selena Gomez uses Summer’s Eve body wash. (Who the hell is Selena Gomez, and seriously, should I care what she soaps with?)

The article really isn’t that bad, although it tends toward the whiny side. She mentions the loneliness, not having enough home time to actually feel at home, and the fact that it’s a very dangerous job. These are all valid points, but when she goes off into the “some drivers wear diapers to avoid stopping at bathrooms” I wondered just what kind of people this chick was hanging out with.

To say that you should “forget about working out or eating well” is a defeatist statement and it’s also not true. Yes, it’s more difficult to eat well and exercise on the road, but it’s not impossible. Like anything else involving the truck, it requires planning and the ability to improvise well.

This driver mentions sexual harassment, and having people be shocked to see a woman behind the wheel of a big truck. I can’t make any personal statement as a female driver, because I’m not one, but I do spend an inordinate amount of time in truck stops and on the road in a truck, and I just don’t see people being shocked by women drivers. I have seen sexual harassment, both male and female. There have been some statements made to me in truck stops that weren’t very nice, but I found if you look the person in the eye and loudly ask them to please repeat themselves, they generally scurry away like the cockroach they are. And if they don’t, there’s this fun little thing called a taser…

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The article ended on a positive note, and I’m really glad to see some interest outside of our bubble. I hope it catches on and more mainstream publications print things other than ATA generated fodder and fiery crashes. It’s nice to read about the human side of the industry. Way to go, Cosmo.