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

[sraun]

Shops that sold fountain pens AND repaired them

There's one of those here in Minneapolis. From what I can tell, there are probably at least a dozen of them in the US - there's an active fountain pen collecting fandom, and they've got money. I'm on one e-mail list for the fandom, and there are multiple transactions per week for over $1000 each. It doesn't take a lot of those transactions to keep a one-man shop in business.

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling my years! From having a fountain pen as a necessity (And I've noticed that my handwriting is a lot mire legible with one than it is with a ball point pen) to the writing impliment as a collectible. That said, I did learn to write script with a dip pen. We were checked every day to see if we had brought our penwipers to school and received a demerit if we had forgotten them!

[sraun]

IIRC, we learned with ball point pens in school. I hate the things. By preference, I use a fountain pen, alternatively a roller ball. I recently got a couple of roller balls that are compact enough to toss in my pocket and not crack when I sit down, the cap posts to make them reasonably long to write with, and they take fountain pen ink!