The First Ever Instance of "Lean Doesn't Apply to Us?"

In discussing Lean and working with people in different organizations, I so very often hear things like "we don't build cars" or "we're different." I know I'm not the only one who hears that. The implication is "Lean won't work here, because we're different" in some way. Different country, different industry, different hospital department, different patient or payer mix, etc.