Life expectancy was short in the 16th century, especially in a filthy, overcrowded city without sanitation like London. Several times during Shakespeare’s life the city was ravaged by outbreaks of the plague. During one particularly bad summer one out of every ten people got sick and died within a few months.  The rich as well as the poor were likely to be struck down by disease, or in the case of women, by complications of childbirth. The servant is saying that “It doesn’t matter if your job isn’t the best; whether you have a good life is merely a matter of being lucky enough to not die young.”