# Who here has had a job that doesn't exist anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 23, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574 "2015-10-23T20:54:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/61 "2015-10-24T23:16:23Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I too once pasted up newspapers when they used real printed paper and real paste (well, hot wax). I also set headline type. Strange to think of now. Me too! I also manually set type for imprinting wedding and party napkins and matchbooks. To this day, I can read upside-down and backwards. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/62 "2015-10-24T23:38:54Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > You olde-tyme PBX operators actually had to plug all those wires into the right holes, take messages, keep track of who was talking and which user was at the end of each of those little holes. (I did PBX for 3 to 5 hours a week for a couple years when I lived at a co-op in college.) The school where I attended 7th grade offered a “class” (free labor) where students ran one of those. For the school. I took the “class” and could’ve listened in to cool discussions but was such a swot that I didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/63 "2015-10-25T00:17:33Z")
Cotton diaper laundry service. Drive on your route, and pick up diapers from customer’s homes. They were laundered, and you returned them. It all went away with disposable diapers. Which was good. The job was a stinker! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/64 "2015-10-25T00:25:01Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > Cotton diaper laundry service. Drive on your route, and pick up diapers from customer’s homes. They were laundered, and you returned them. > > It all went away with disposable diapers. Which was good. The job was a stinker! Those never went away, and are actually making a comeback in large part because of environmental concerns. Mike Rowe did a “Dirty Jobs” episode about one of these in recent years. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/65 "2015-10-25T00:35:10Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Operated blueprint machine at a major architect’s office. > > Graphic artist: T-square, exacto knife, hot wax, etc. > > Typesetter: From paper-tape to floppy disk, plus Typositor. > > Are there still offset plate makers? > > Full-time kerning of thousands of fonts. My father went from letter press to Linotype to paper tape and probably to some big floppies. They still had a darkroom for burning plates, however, and a huge Heidleberg letter press that shook the whole building until the mid 80s. Me? I dinked around with some offset presses (set on computers, but still cut and pasted, then burned) in Junior Achievement. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/66 "2015-10-25T00:39:27Z")
Oh yeh. Desktop Publishing in the 90s killed doing things like key-lining, using stuff like hot wax and rubylith, presstype, shooting stats with a stat camera, etc. It was around those days I took on the username **cmyk.** I don’t even work in pre-press anymore and haven’t for about 15 years, or even much graphic design for about 7. I should change my username to **rgb** or **cgi.** ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/67 "2015-10-25T01:57:59Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > After I graduated from high school in 1981, I worked for a while as a keypunch operator before going to college (the first time). We even had a punch card machine, which was phased out shortly after I started. By the mid 1980s, that department was phased out, and replaced by data entry; I was re-hired by that company a few years later and worked there during my first two years of my second (and finally successful) go-around at college. > > I’m sure there are other people who have done similar things. Very similar. Wiring plug boards on an [IBM 402 Accounting Machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_402) , punching cards on an [IBM 029](http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/029.html) , sorting them on an [IBM 84 sorter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_card_sorter). Later on, punching cards in my first programming language of RPG. Good times, good times. Especially when you emptied the chip box from the keypunch into someone’s desk drawer for a joke. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/68 "2015-10-25T02:15:44Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I worked one summer in a book store. Imagine going to an actual store and buying an actual book!! Wasn’t that quaint… Plenty of Book Stores left. You know Barnes and Nobles and Used Book Stores. The little Mom & Pops are now getting very rare and the smaller chains are gone of course. But bookstores are out there, I was at one today. > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I was also a mainframe computer operator, with gigantic open reel tape drives and punch card readers. > > I was also a COBOL and Fortran programmer. I programmed COBOL on a Tandem at my first Programming Job. Had to deal with the old reel tapes too on that job, including loading sales orders from one customer that was delivered by tape each morning in a white van. I would massage it on the AS400 from EBCDIC to ASCII and then load it onto the Tandem as a form of primitive EDI. I still program in [RPG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_RPG) Oh, back in my NAVY days I was trained and certified in WORDSTAR & Lotus 123 (off floppies). ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/69 "2015-10-25T02:37:02Z")
In the mid '80s, I hand painted geologic maps. Very, very detailed. It took us weeks to paint one and sold for thousands of dollars. Oil on linen. Today, I can spit one out on a plotter in about 2 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/70 "2015-10-25T03:16:41Z")
While in college, I worked as an automobile turnip specialist. Points, setting spark plug gaps, adjusting carburetors, setting timing, and so forth. Other than a strobe light, I used hand tools and my eyes and hearing to get the smoothest idle. I really enjoyed getting customer’s cars to run as well as possible. Now it is all electronic ignition and fuel injection; repairs are usually diagnosed with a computer, and parts are simply pulled and replaced rather than “fixed” and reinstalled. Of course cars are much better today than in the 50’s to 70’s models that I worked on. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/71 "2015-10-25T03:30:22Z")
> [@sunstone](#): > > While in college, I worked as an automobile turnip specialist. … So few people give turnips a chance. If you mash them with potatoes (one tuneup to every three potatoes) they impart a lovely wild flavour. As a specialist, you probably already knew this. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/72 "2015-10-25T04:36:51Z")
Early 70’s: Draftsman. Saw a film (yes, 16mm FILM) about the design computer at GM - the film showed a CRT with a crude line drawing of a auto hood, being rotated and zoomed. The future was not good (yes, this was CAD on a Mainframe, circa 1974). So I got into Computer Programming - COBOL/JCL/CICS/IMS/DB2/TSO-SPF/and 4 lines of Machine Code. I was quite proud of the machine code. The only one I remember was ‘11’ - which was ‘set buffer address’ ALC was high-level code by comparison. The photo darkroom was a hobby, so I can’t count that one. But the (bicycle) Paper Route in Middle School counts. As did the car-based route years later. I also pumped gas for customers. That’s four jobs which ain’t seen recently. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/73 "2015-10-25T04:58:49Z")
My older brother pumped gas. He would manually pump it from the underground tank to a glass cylinder that had measurements. Then it would be gravity fed to the car’s tank. Where he worked, they didn’t have electricity. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/74 "2015-10-25T12:50:12Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Early 70’s: Draftsman. Saw a film (yes, 16mm FILM) about the design computer at GM - the film showed a CRT with a crude line drawing of a auto hood, being rotated and zoomed. > The future was not good (yes, this was CAD on a Mainframe, circa 1974). > > So I got into Computer Programming - COBOL/JCL/CICS/IMS/DB2/TSO-SPF/and 4 lines of Machine Code. > I was quite proud of the machine code. The only one I remember was ‘11’ - which was ‘set buffer address’ ALC was high-level code by comparison. > > The photo darkroom was a hobby, so I can’t count that one. > > But the (bicycle) Paper Route in Middle School counts. As did the car-based route years later. > I also pumped gas for customers. > > That’s four jobs which ain’t seen recently. You’re right there’s not much paper & pencil/ink drafting going on these days. But plenty of programming, including COBOL, JCL, CICS, IMS, & DB2 still happens in 2015. Car-based paper delivery happens every day across this fine land of ours. As does full-service gas pumping in the states where it’s still mandated, and everywhere handicapped drivers exist. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/75 "2015-10-25T17:31:41Z")
I used to be a milkman; door to door delivery. I did the same thing for bakery company. Horny housewives and all. I was a carburetor re builder for a while; I also sort of specialized in distributor repair and set up. My mother was a switchboard operator for years. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/76 "2015-10-25T18:16:23Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Paper Boy and photo lab operator. Photo lab operator here too. They’re still around but not nearly as common as they used to be. The hours sucked but the job was kind of fun. I got to see peoples’ vacations, watch their kids grow up, see their new pets. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/77 "2015-10-25T18:20:28Z")
Back in the early 50s my mom sold bleach, on the phone. Most housewives didn’t own cars, and it was a PITA to shlep a gallon of bleach from the grocery store. She also sold encyclopedias and did pen-and-ink fashion illustrations. She also taught arts & crafts to patients in a convalescent hospital. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/78 "2015-10-25T18:31:04Z")
At GE they used copy machines that use light sensitive paper , I had to copies of prints and I had be careful to not leave the drawer open . This job has to gone by now. I wasn’t allowed to work where it was loud sounds b/c of being HOH. ---
**Author:** ![Terry\_Kennedy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@Terry\_Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terry_Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/79 "2015-10-25T19:34:00Z")
> [@2nd\_Law](#): > > I was an elevator operator for a couple of weeks. The regular guy went on vacation, and I volunteered to do the job at an office supply store in Evanston (I was normally a retail sales clerk there.) I can’t recall the last time I saw a manually run elevator outside of that place. Manual elevators are still relatively common for freight service - I was in one last week in Manhattan (NY, not KS). There could be a number of reasons why this is still done - other than the facetious “the operators have a good union”, it may be that while an electronic controller (previously relays, now a computer) can do a better job of efficiently scheduling a bank of passenger elevators, a good manual operator or two can do a better job when there are only one or two freight elevators. Or perhaps building management feels that the one-time cost to convert to automatic operation is too high (there is a lot less standardization in freight elevators) and they’d rather continue paying an operator. In the large city where I live, there was a supermarket that held onto manual cash registers (no scanning, no automated weighing+pricing) well into 2000. This wasn’t a tiny operation, either - they had over a dozen checkout lanes. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574/80 "2015-10-25T19:57:56Z")
I was a soda jerk for Happy Joe’s Pizza and Ice Cream Parlor. 10 years ago they went from 16 flavors of Blue Bunny Ice cream and about 30 sundaes, malts and shakes to vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, the flavor of the month and 4 different yogurts. The sundaes, shakes and malts were cut back to what could be made with the limited flavors. Then about 2 years ago I went in and all the ice cream was gone from that store. I don’t know if they had some in the walk-ins for birthdays (which used to be the big draw… come celebrate your birthday here, kids!) They also got rid of: the candy that you could buy by the piece or by the pound, the game rooms and, most devastating of all, the train that ran around the top of the store. In other words they took all the fun out of going to HJ’s and it was like walking into a McDonald’s. But they still serve the same aimed at kids sweet sauced pizza. I guess their new (ish) playhouse pizza site gets enough business that they could revamp the rest of the stores. But it sure isn’t the place I went to as a kid or worked at as a teen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-has-had-a-job-that-doesnt-exist-anymore/735574.md?page=5)