# Jobs from the past that no longer exist. Can you think of any?



## Furryanimal (Dec 21, 2016)

Perhaps you had one.


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## Warrigal (Dec 21, 2016)

My husband was apprenticed at the age of 15 to a patternmaker.
He made very precise wooden patterns that were used in the foundry to produce metal components such as fan blades, parts for compressors etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bw8Ed4O82g

It is now considered an antique trade.


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## Don M. (Dec 21, 2016)

Here's 10.....
http://www.boredpanda.com/extinct-jobs/


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## ronaldj (Dec 21, 2016)

I was a Metal Lather at the beginning, now we were absorbed into the carpenters. hardly no one does plaster and lath anymore.

on a different note a phone operator, I used to call them all the time for the time.


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## Furryanimal (Dec 21, 2016)

Don M. said:


> Here's 10.....
> http://www.boredpanda.com/extinct-jobs/


Thanks


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## Aunt Bea (Dec 21, 2016)

When I started working we still had elevator operators, they were great, they always knew who was in the building, good mood, bad mood, they always had the dirt, LOL!


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## BlondieBoomer (Dec 21, 2016)

A punch card operator. Before PC's and computer terminals, data had to be entered into big old computers on punched cards. I always thought that would be a fun job.



These are the machines that punched them:


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## jujube (Dec 22, 2016)

Are there file clerks any more?  I had a summer job as a file clerk once.  Borrrrrring.


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## grannyjo (Dec 22, 2016)

My first job was as a person who used a graphotype/addressograph machine.  I had to type the names and addresses onto a small metal sheet,  which was then placed into another machine to print the names and addresses onto an envelope to send to shareholders of the company.

From there,  I moved onto a tape-writer.  A machine that punched holes into long lengths of tape,  which was then fed into another machine,  to communicate with other branches of one the then largest companies in Australia.

I eventually learned how to use the  "bookkeeping"  machines.  Huge monsters that were set up to use as many muscles as you had.

Lucky enough to finally moved onto the then,  rather  "modern"  computers.

Huge main frame things that were kept in basements,  to try to keep them cool.

I've managed,  for the most part,  to keep up with the advances in technology,  though I do feel that I may be failing now in my later years.

It sure has changed,  I'm not always sure that it has been for the better.  Faster perhaps,  but far less personal.

During the graphotype/addressograph  years,  I was also able to take part in type-setting newspapers.  That was quite interesting,  and I still have my signature,  set in lead.


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## Butterfly (Dec 22, 2016)

I ran a teletype machine for a while.  I haven't seen or heard of one of those in years.


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## Pappy (Dec 22, 2016)

Bowling pinsetters by hand.
Town crier.


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## Butterfly (Dec 22, 2016)

I also ran one of those old switchboards where you plugged one cord into the slot where the call was coming in and the other cord of that set into the extension they wanted.   You really had to pay attention, or you could get everybody talking to the wrong people and get everybody all pissed off.  If you had a call waiting for someone who was on the other line, we had little colored clothespins and put, say, a blue one on the waiting cord, and the other blue one on the cord of the busy line, so we could know who was waiting for who.  The whole thing could get a lot more complicated than it looked.


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## jujube (Dec 22, 2016)

One of my temp jobs was working on a teletype machine.  Yow, was that a dinosaur.  I hated that job. 

And speaking of dinosaurs, I worked one job on one of the old switchboards that Butterfly mentioned (it HAD to be from the 40's at least) and, yes, we also used the colored clips to indicate which line was which.  You had to be extremely careful when disconnecting because the cords would get all intertwined in the other ones and it was easy to pull the wrong one out.  I remember having to tap the metal end of the cord to the socket to see if the person was on an internal call before putting calls through.  Of course, I had to answer the call, put the call on "hold" and call the recipient to see if he'd take the call.  Of course, he wouldn't (it was a construction company and most of the calls were from unhappy customers.....there's no way the construction guys had any intention of talking to the customer.)  So, I'd have to take a detailed written message while all the lights were blinking and buzzing.  It's a wonder my hair didn't turn grey at 18.  

And then there was the hair-graying job of typing up contracts, four to six at a time using carbon paper.  Carbon paper was my bete noir.  Make a mistake, c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y roll the copies up, erase the mistake on each page with the lovely little round eraser with the brush on it, blow out all the eraser crumbs, and then c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y roll the paper back into the typewriter, hoping against hope that it will all line up the same.  

In college, I worked part time at the national headquarters of a fraternity putting membership records on paper tape using a Flex-o-writer, the Mack Truck of typewriters.  Clunk, clunk, clunk.  At least you could back up the tape, punch it all out and start the entry over again if you made a mistake.  TECHNOLOGY!!! I was moving up in the world.


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## BlondieBoomer (Dec 22, 2016)

Remember that brand new sexy technology called microfiche?






Was that cool, or what? :wow:  We've come a long way, baby!


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## Pappy (Dec 23, 2016)

My first Radio Shack computer where info went on cassette tapes.


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## Ken N Tx (Dec 23, 2016)

Pappy said:


> My first Radio Shack computer where info went on cassette tapes.



floppy disk, I have a bunch of these that I can no longer read!!!!!!
.


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## Ken N Tx (Dec 23, 2016)




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## Ken N Tx (Dec 23, 2016)

Pappy said:


> Bowling pinsetters by hand.
> Town crier.


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## Pappy (Dec 23, 2016)

You know Ken. This looks like a good way to get killed.


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## Butterfly (Dec 23, 2016)

jujube said:


> One of my temp jobs was working on a teletype machine.  Yow, was that a dinosaur.  I hated that job.
> 
> And speaking of dinosaurs, I worked one job on one of the old switchboards that Butterfly mentioned (it HAD to be from the 40's at least) and, yes, we also used the colored clips to indicate which line was which.  You had to be extremely careful when disconnecting because the cords would get all intertwined in the other ones and it was easy to pull the wrong one out.  I remember having to tap the metal end of the cord to the socket to see if the person was on an internal call before putting calls through.  Of course, I had to answer the call, put the call on "hold" and call the recipient to see if he'd take the call.  Of course, he wouldn't (it was a construction company and most of the calls were from unhappy customers.....there's no way the construction guys had any intention of talking to the customer.)  So, I'd have to take a detailed written message while all the lights were blinking and buzzing.  It's a wonder my hair didn't turn grey at 18.
> 
> ...



EEEW!  I remember that awful carbon paper, too.  I typed property appraisals with four carbons, and I so well remember the mess of erasing, rolling the whole thing up and back, etc.  And it never really looked right after all that.  It was indeed a hair-graying job.  And it seemed the harder you tried not to make mistakes, the more you made.  I threw many a batch away, and just started over.


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## boaterboi (Dec 23, 2016)

Drafting
Tool and die
Paperboy
Gas station attendant


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## Furryanimal (Dec 23, 2016)

Pappy said:


> Bowling pinsetters by hand.
> Town crier.


There are still one or two town criers in the UK. One always meets the afternoon cruises on the Bristol Channel when the boat calls at  Watchet.


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## Furryanimal (Dec 23, 2016)

boaterboi said:


> Drafting
> Tool and die
> Paperboy
> Gas station attendant


Still got paperboys  in the UK. Have three newspapers delivered each morning.


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## jujube (Dec 23, 2016)

boaterboi said:


> Drafting
> Tool and die
> Paperboy
> *Gas station attendant*



It may still be illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon.  I haven't been there in years, but the filling stations all had attendants that pumped for you.  Heaven help you if you jumped out of your car and started pumping on your own.


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## silla (Dec 30, 2016)

Butterfly said:


> I also ran one of those old switchboards where you plugged one cord into the slot where the call was coming in and the other cord of that set into the extension they wanted.   You really had to pay attention, or you could get everybody talking to the wrong people and get everybody all pissed off.  If you had a call waiting for someone who was on the other line, we had little colored clothespins and put, say, a blue one on the waiting cord, and the other blue one on the cord of the busy line, so we could know who was waiting for who.  The whole thing could get a lot more complicated than it looked.


  I've never been able to figure out how the operators did all that, it looks SO complicated! One of my favorite episodes of Green Acres is when Oliver took over the phone company and he and Lisa were trying to make heads or tails of how to operate the switchboard, it was hilarious!!


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## silla (Dec 30, 2016)

Ken N Tx said:


> View attachment 34275


 Can you just imagine how hectic that must have been, especially with them being shoulder-to-shoulder like that!


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## Pappy (Dec 30, 2016)

A stenographer that writes in shorthand.


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## Manatee (Dec 30, 2016)

My big sisters first job was a telephone operator.  Our phone did not have a dial in those days.

My friends father started out as a telegraph operator for the Santa Fe railroad.

Worst job I ever performed was elevator operator.  Did it for 4 hours when I was in the Navy.  You couldn't quit and leave.


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## Grumpy Ol' Man (Dec 30, 2016)

My Mother and my wife both were "call girls" and then became "hookers"!  Both spent many years as telephone operators.  My Mother was operator in our small town.  Folks would call her and say, "Don't ring me for an hour.  I'm gonna go take a bath."  When I met my wife, she was a telephone operator for Southwestern Bell.  i.e.  "Call girls".  My Mother taught my wife how to crochet.  When my Mother was near the end with her cancer, she could still sit upright and crochet.  My wife's hands are getting quite arthritic, but she still crochets some... i.e.  crochet hooks/"hookers".

Hard to find today...
Watchmaker/watch repair shop
Shoe repair shop
Full service gas station where they wash the windows, check the oil, and offer to vacuum the car.
Brakeman on a freight train riding in the caboose.  No cabooses anymore.


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## Wilberforce (Dec 31, 2016)

I had a family member many many years ago who went on the road with a red flag to stop the traffic on the road at ungated railway crossing. I had another who, according to his death certificate was a gas mantle maker.


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## Carla (Dec 31, 2016)

Remember shoemakers? We had one in town that did shoe repair. They resoled and reheeled our shoes so we would get more wear out of them.


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## Wilberforce (Dec 31, 2016)

We have a great shoe repairer herw


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## Carla (Dec 31, 2016)

Jeannine said:


> We have a great shoe repairer herw



I haven't seen or heard of any around here in years. We were always taking shoes in for repair! He would sometimes shine them for us and make them look like new. We always waxed or polished shoes on Saturday night for church the next day. I had to wear oxfords and I hated them!


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## tortiecat (Dec 31, 2016)

We have one in our grocery store.
Remember elevator operators - ladies in uniforms with hats and gloves?


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## Pappy (Dec 31, 2016)

Carla said:


> Remember shoemakers? We had one in town that did shoe repair. They resoled and reheeled our shoes so we would get more wear out of them.



This was our shoe repair shop back in the fifties. Long gone now.


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