That it should happen in our lifetimes

[rolanni]

Steve and I were talking last evening about the jobs that had existed during our lifetimes which exist no more. Here's a partial list, in no particular order:

1. Lamplighter
2. Ice man
3. Pin boy
4. Ayrab
5. Tinker
6. Insurance man*
7. Milk man
8. Secretary**
9. Street sweeper
10. Beat cop

What occupations and jobs have vanished from the world around you?

_________________
* Back in the Day, the insurance man would come to the house weekly, and collect his quarter or half-dollar. Yes, was the legitimate insurance man.

**Actually, secretary seemed to almost die out as a job,the reasoning being that the boss could type his own dern letters if only he was given a computer. Then corporate thinking came back around to the realization that the status of having a live person to do all that silly paperwork for you was priceless, so the occupation has enjoyed a minor renaissance.

Comments

This is embarrassing

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

What was an Ayrab? Tossing it at google wasn't helpful. I had to toss pin boy at it, too, but that got me an answer.

Re: This is embarrassing

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

What was an Ayrab?

An Ayrab (also called a "street Ayrab") was a guy, with a horse and a wagon. They walked up and down the alleyways of Baltimore calling out the names of the stuff they had for sale: "STRAWberrrEEES" for instance, which was sung with a far different inflection from "WAHmelUN."

Ayrabs were independent business people, most of them were black, and they were licensed by the City of Baltimore. The horses were kept in a stable downtown.

There were also trucks with amusement rides mounted on the back -- mini merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels and whips -- that would go up and down the alleys.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

well, I still have an insurance man for my car insurance and household goods. I can call him if I have an accident and he files all the paperwork, arranges for an inspector, whatever.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I've got an insurance guy, too, but I write my bi-annual checks to MetLife and mail them Away. The current insurance guy says that when he first came on, there were still a few of the "old fellas" with the "old accounts" who still went out every week and hand-collected that buck or two from each account.

I don't get that kind of service...

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

The bread man is also gone. I suppose there is still coal delivery, though my grandparents had one of the last coal furnaces I knew of. Ash collectors? My grandfather actually had an ash can -- may have been part of the trash.

Actual barbers are becoming endangered.

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Actually, the milk man still exists. We get a weekly milk delivery:)

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Actually, the milk man still exists. We get a weekly milk delivery

Really? That's welcome news, actually. Do you happen to live in a large city-or-suburb?

[windrose.livejournal.com]

At Christmas dinner this year, I wound up talking with some cousins about our grandmother, and all the changes to the world she had seen in her lifetime. She was born in 1904, and died in 1998. That's damn near 100 years.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

She was born in 1904, and died in 1998. That's damn near 100 years.

Talk about having been born in whole 'nother world...

secretary

[peanut13171.livejournal.com]

In my large company, "secretary" is now "adminstrative assistant". It means someone who can put together spreadsheets, graphs, and powerpoint presentations for their bosses, most of whom are older and not very proficient with Excel, Powerpoint, database programs. Most (not all) bosses are in their late 40's or older and so many are still not very computer savvy. They can do email and very basic word processing function, but other than that, they're hopeless.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

In addition to the milk man and the ice man, there was the bread man and the vegetable man. My father's mother had milk delivered in glass bottles to her house well into the 1980s, and continued to lament the retirement of the vegetable man who'd made twice weekly deliveries until the late 1970s.

Door-to-door selling has pretty much died out, but I can remember the Fuller Brush man and his brethren stopping by our house. And telex operators are surely an endangered breed in these days of faxes and e-mail.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

My ghod; I haven't seen a telex in years.

I do remember, when I was a Young Person just starting out as a file clerk, that it was proposed to me that undertaking the training to become a switchboard operator would be a Smart Career Move.

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

A scissor grinder that went door to door. The last time I saw one was in the early 80's in South Orange, New Jersey.
Shops that did umbrella repairs.
Shops that sold fountain pens AND repaired them
invisible menders
Womens shoes that had a mix of widths between the heel and the rest of the shoe: I used to take a AAA with a AAAAA heel!

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Actually, getting anything repaired these days seems to be difficult. It's often "cheaper" to just go out and buy a new thing. (I say "cheaper" because I'm not counting environmental costs:(.)

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

6_penny got to the scissors grinder right before I was about to post about the knife sharpening man who used to drive his truck around my neighborhood on Long Island, ringing his bell. Even then, my mom said such businessmen were disappearing.

I think, also, the local candy man is disappearing. When I was a kid, we used to go to this little mom-and-pop candy shop called "Dibs" where you could get candy, comic books, cigarettes, that sort of thing. You don't see places like that anymore. I think they even had a soda counter. These days, the equivalent, I think, is 7-11 and other convenience stores like that. Gone are the days.

[readinggeek451]

I'm on Long Island, and I actually saw a knife sharpening van drive by one day a few months ago! It was a shock; I'd never seen one before.

Shoe repair guy is a dying breed.

Not all secretaries are status symbols

[masgramondou.livejournal.com]

For really busy CxO type folks a secretary to act as a screener (and scheduler) is critical. Otherwise the CxO gets swamped with people who want to sell him things, ask him stupid questions etc. etc.

Same goes, for that matter, for a receptionist/switch board person for smaller companies. And it has been an observation of mine that good salespeople cultivate both secretaries and receptionists and thereby get access that in theory they probably shouldn't get.

Library Card Catalog filer

[patknuth.livejournal.com]

I don't think they're all gone yet, but they're certainly dwindling. My first library job was filing the subject cards in the University of Missouri - Columbia card catalog. When the Library of Congress changed a subject heading, I also pulled complete card sets, whited out the now incorrect subject heading using liquid paper and typed in the new one (using a special typewriter roller with a card slot to hold the card in place) and then re-filed the whole set. I had a colleague who still used an electric eraser to remove incorrect headings instead of the liquid paper. There are those who mourn the passing of the card catalog, and I agree with some of their arguments, but not having to file catalog cards.... priceless.

Now I think what a difference an mp3 player would have made for that job. The Sony Walkman for cassette tapes existed, but it was too expensive for me. Four years later, I bought a generic "personal stereo" for $10 with Christmas money, but I was in a different job by then.

Re: Library Card Catalog filer

[jeloise.livejournal.com]

So glad I never had to do that library job. Nowadays when I pass by the Technical Services department, most staff have mp3 players on as they process the materials or update the catalog via the computer. The only use we currently have for Liquid Paper is for the patrons using the photocopiers. The library just got rid of the old card catalog files. They had been using them for storing the patron applications until we went digital this month. Major space (and time) saver.

[liveavatar.livejournal.com]

There are still beat cops. In San Francisco for sure, since I just saw an article in the Chronicle about how the mayor was asking for an increase in beat cops in a particular district.

In Oakland and Berkeley too, though these days they're more likely to ride a bicycle than go on foot.

[doushkasmum.livejournal.com]

We still have street sweepers (Australia), they are employed by the council and drive a large truck with rotating brushes on the bottom. I can get fruit and vegetables home delivered too, but I order them on the net!

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

ooooh, I think the IBM typewriter repairman is a creature of the past.

Gas pump jockeys are very endangered except where legislation protects them. (Washington State -- no pumping your own gas there -- I guess pump jockeys are like spotted owls.)

[swedishsis.livejournal.com]

Actually that's Oregon, we have to pump our own gas in Washington. Very disconcerting to for those of us not use to it. I'm always afraid to get out of my car at an Oregon gas station for fear of committing a faux pas.

[deor.livejournal.com]

A couple I was going to mention - knife/scissors grinder, cobbler, typewriter repair - have been brought up by others. But here's one you don't see much of anymore, at least in most retail clothing stores: in-store seamstress/tailor. My great-aunt did that for fifty years, and back in the day it was fairly common to get clothing in a store and then have it altered to fit. A few stores still offer this service, but it's not nearly as common as it used to be.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I know several in the UK, including the Levis discount store (my legs are too short, I have a 26 inch inside leg measurement so they typically have to take off aroun7 inches). It isn't as common as it was 40+ years ago, but it doesn't look as though it's decreasing any more now.

[laurajunderwood.livejournal.com]

Typesetters...

[laurajunderwood.livejournal.com]

Although actually I mean compositors, the ones who hand-set the type before the machines and computers took over...

Elevator Operator?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Back in the days (about 1982 or so), I worked at RCA in Camden, NJ. And if you walked into the headquarters building, in the corner of the elevators, there was a stool with a man sitting on it. While the elevators were completely self-operated (we pushed our own buttons), the unions had a deal whereby the elevator operators were guaranteed employment as long as they were in the elevators. So we had elevator operators who spent their days sitting in the back of the elevators. I always wondered what the mental health figures were for that position.

Japan still has such operators in some department stores and such, but it is a trainee position, and they operate the controls and sing out the floors. Very different.

Re: Elevator Operator?

[otterb.livejournal.com]

Last year I stayed in the Hotel Boulderado in Boulder, Colorado. The new wing of the hotel has modern elevators, but the 100-year-old main building has an old-style elevator that required an operator. But it wasn't a full time job; one of the bell staff would come over and operate it when you rang.

Some jobs still remain

[jeloise.livejournal.com]

The milkman still exists, sort of, here in the Salt Lake area of Utah. The major dairy farm for the region [www.winderfarms.com/] has expanded into a fresh grocery delivery service - delivery promised by 8 am. I remember the milkman delivering when I was a kid in Los Angeles, I was surprised when I moved up here to find they still delivered.

I haven't seen a Fuller brush door-to-door salesman in years though the company does have a website.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

In the UK we still have milk delivery people (not all men!) in some areas, and "beat cops" (if that means ones who walk around the streets on a beat). I think I only once saw a lamplighter and we didn't have ice men. Delivery people of most other types have pretty much disappeared, though some areas still have coal deliveries (but not on a horse-drawn truck!). Fishmongers and cheese shops are endangered, although there are still some.

Also interesting are jobs which have appeared in the last half century. Some are obvious, like "computer anything". Medical jobs like chiropractor, nutritionist, dietician, loads of types of therapists. Interior designers. Martial arts teachers (yes, many of the martial arts were around 50 years ago but they weren't generally paid jobs with advertisements). Children's TV presenters. Game show hosts.

[thinkum]

How about the Rag Man? He used to collect old rags, worn-out clothing, etc. My Mom told me (as a small child) that he would take the cloth off to be made into paper. Of course, in the "old" days, all those rags and clothing were mainly cotton; somehow, I doubt that scraps of polyester would be of much use to a paper mill, these days.

Never had vegetable salesmen in my town (it was pretty rural, we all grew our own), but my husband grew up in the greater Boston area, and remembers that his family was always visited in the Autumn by "the apple man".

Ladies services person in the restroom

[reedrover]

My grandmother talks about how there was always an older lady stationed in the Nordstrom's woman's bathroom to assist with any minor fixes required to anything from outfits to hairdos.

I've only ever encountered one at a very exclusive (read "rich people only") private social club in Washington D.C. She was perfect in every way, too.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Keypunch clerk for Hollerith cards :)

A computer job that came into existence and then became obsolete in an eyeblink.

Rag men used to come around when I was a kid. We had vegetable trucks that came around when I lived in Germany in the 1970's -- but never any in the US. We used to visit farm stands with great regularity instead. I wonder if anyone manufactures peach baskets anymore. And wood soda pop crates.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Hm, just thought of one. This wasn't in *my* lifetime, I don't think, but still. My great-grandmother (maternal), before she married, worked in a five-and-dime store, and an integral part of her job was that she would sight read and play sheet music on the piano, for anyone considering buying it but not knowing the song. I suppose the modern equivalent is those little scanners with headphones in the CD section of Barnes and Noble, that you can scan the CD's barcode under and then listen to a preview.

so far

[joythree.livejournal.com]

Charles potato chips delivery
door-to-door Avon ladies
deliveries of prescriptions from drug stores
delivery and pick up of dry cleaning
nurses aides in hospitals
March of Dimes people