Car sales is one of the hardest jobs I've ever done. It's not as physically demanding as being a landscaper's assistant in Rockville, Maryland, hauling a hundred pounds of stone up a muddy hill in a wheelbarrow, or roofing condos in Key West in the middle of July. As far as ordinary, run of the mill jobs go, car sales is one of the toughest jobs there is. A large part of what makes it tough is the down time, which makes the job boring and humdrum. I 've never been so exhausted as I have after going three, four or god forbid, ten days straight without selling a car. There is something about standing around doing nothing all day that's as physically, emotionally and mentally draining as running a marathon. It's fatigue in a way that's hard to understand unless you've been there. If I deliver three cars in a single day, something that requires me to sometimes go without lunch and be in constant motion for eight or nine hours straight. At the end of the day I'm not tired but more like exhilarated. On the other hand, doing nothing all day can wear you out and most of it is purely mental.
A sales career at a dealership in most places, you're paid strictly by commission. If you don't sell a car, you don't get paid; it's that simple. As a result, you become a Lion of the Urban Jungle in a sense, wondering when or if the next big antelope will cross your path. You never know for sure what your next paycheck will be. Will it be enough to pay your mortgage? Cover your child support? Put food on your table for your wife and kids? Pay their medical bills? Put gas in your car so you can get to work the next day? You never know. This kind of things preys on the mind and could causes a tremendous amount of mental stress that will wear you out worse than ten rounds with Mike Tyson. .
There's also a peculiar side to sales that I've never experienced in any other job. I call it "The Interruption of Normal Human Patterns.