Subdeacon Joe Posted September 21 Share Posted September 21 "As technology advances some jobs have become obsolete others have just fallen out of fashion - an example of this is a job known as a lector. In the past factories often individuals known as “lectores” were tasked to read to the workers as they went about their tasks. To keep them entertained, alert and working. Early instances of this position are recorded in the 1860s in cigar factories. The custom was especially common in the Cuban cigar factories of Ybor City in Florida. The only skill required for the position was the capability to read and speak out aloud. A lector would read articles from the newspapers and other books this provided the factory workers with both entertainment and information, making the environment more engaging and intellectually stimulating for the employees. Photo of workers in a cigar factory being read to by a lector, 1900" Source: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/jobs-that-no-longer-exist/ 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted September 21 Share Posted September 21 Not Hannibal’s kin, I presume. 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted September 21 Author Share Posted September 21 56 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: Not Hannibal’s kin, I presume. Nor a Roman magisterial attendant of similar name. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted September 21 Share Posted September 21 Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, News Of The World. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted September 21 Share Posted September 21 Many of the cigar factory buildings are still there in Ybor. There is still one cigar factory still in use, see the link for info. Most of the old cigar factory building in Ybor now are used as bars, nightclubs and restaurants as Ybor is now a "nightlife" area. The 'new' Ybor used to be a decent place to go but has turned into a place with a bunch of young punks, gangs and drunks...they can keep it. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/last-cigar-factory-tampa-180978323/ 2 hours ago, J-BAR #18287 said: Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, News Of The World. I actually liked that movie. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted September 21 Share Posted September 21 44 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said: I actually liked that movie. Me too! Good acting and a fine James Newton Howard soundtrack. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 Probably all lost their jobs with the advent of radio. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 Thanks Joe. I was thinking about jobs that are no longer valid that have gone away or are no longer common in my lifetime. Shoe Shine men / boys Shoe repairers Watch repairers Telephone Operators Milkmen Telegram office and delivery staff Newpaper boys Western Union staff Gas station attendants (in most states) Street Barkers Crossing guards Traffic control officers Door to door product salesmen - Kirby and Stanley products. I know I am forgetting some but this was all I could think of in a short bit. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 Broaden that, competent individuals in many roles - P Poor education. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 8 minutes ago, Pat Riot said: Door to door product salesmen - Kirby and Stanley products. Watkins, Fuller Brush, Electro-Lux, American National Insurance. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 30 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said: Watkins, Fuller Brush, Electro-Lux, American National Insurance. I’m not familiar with Watkins or American National Insurance. Another one I just thought of were the Photographers that used to go door to door. They would take family photos then sell you a package on the photographs. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 1 minute ago, Pat Riot said: I’m not familiar with Watkins or American National Insurance. Another one I just thought of were the Photographers that used to go door to door. They would take family photos then sell you a package on the photographs. When I was a boy, photographers would come around with a pony and western props. Times were tough, but I have my photo still. No idea what it cost, but somehow it was done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watab kid Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 (edited) when i was young architect leaning over my drafting table , i listened to iowa piblic radio , o know its liberal and im conservative but in those days they had book readers - l remember listening to the reader do watership down , it passed the hours nicely , dont know much of classical music but i enjoyed the harpsichord , i like lots of different music Edited September 26 by watab kid 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 6 hours ago, Pat Riot said: Door to door product salesmen - Kirby and Stanley products. Encyclopedia Brittanica salesmen cutco knives, especially worked neighborhoods with girls building their trousseaus 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 Pin setters in bowling alleys. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 Soda jerks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 More jobs: Telephone repairmen Draftsmen By the way, I do not see these jobs going away as bad. It’s just the way it is. In most cases it is progress. Jobs of old that went away due to progress. Street sweepers Messenger boys Lamplighters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 17 minutes ago, Pat Riot said: More jobs: Telephone repairmen Draftsmen By the way, I do not see these jobs going away as bad. It’s just the way it is. In most cases it is progress. Jobs of old that went away due to progress. Street sweepers Messenger boys Lamplighters Telephone repair people are alive and well in the co-ops, and very competent! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 46 minutes ago, Pat Riot said: More jobs: Telephone repairmen Draftsmen By the way, I do not see these jobs going away as bad. It’s just the way it is. In most cases it is progress. Jobs of old that went away due to progress. Street sweepers Messenger boys Lamplighters Draftsman are alive and well they just do it on a computer now instead of on paper. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 How about garbage men? When I was a kid there was five people on the truck. One guy driving, and four strong guys that picked up everybody's cans and dumped them into the back of the truck. Now there is one guy driving with an automatic claw that grabs hold of the can and dumps it in the top of the truck. Those four strong guys in the back - had to go find another job. Their vocation disappeared. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 1 hour ago, Rip Snorter said: Telephone repair people are alive and well in the co-ops, and very competent! Funny, I just got my phone service from a new company and had to guide them thru how to port my number and get everything hooked up. Even fixed the guys fiber splicer(Fugikura) Needed the electrodes replaced! He looked at me like I had 3 heads, but let me mess it!! He said the machine never worked so well. A little maintenance goes a long way. Gotta admit they have have changed a bunch since I played with the them in the 90s. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Springfield Slim SASS #24733 Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 We still have crossing guards at the schools here in my part of California. And my brother is a Draftsman, but yes, he hasn't used paper and pencil for a few years now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 45 minutes ago, Alpo said: How about garbage men? When I was a kid there was five people on the truck. One guy driving, and four strong guys that picked up everybody's cans and dumped them into the back of the truck. Now there is one guy driving with an automatic claw that grabs hold of the can and dumps it in the top of the truck. Those four strong guys in the back - had to go find another job. Their vocation disappeared. A job that in NYC had a higher injury rate than police or fire dept. Whatever they are doing, they are better off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 1 hour ago, Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L said: Draftsman are alive and well they just do it on a computer now instead of on paper. Yeah, but they don't get to play with all of the old draftsman tools or have a huge draftsman's table with the appropriate surface. I still like Magic Rub erasers for pencil erasing's. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 1 hour ago, Alpo said: How about garbage men? When I was a kid there was five people on the truck. One guy driving, and four strong guys that picked up everybody's cans and dumped them into the back of the truck. Now there is one guy driving with an automatic claw that grabs hold of the can and dumps it in the top of the truck. Those four strong guys in the back - had to go find another job. Their vocation disappeared. Not around here. Still plenty of the guys that ride the back of the truck, pick up nasty, unwanted refuse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 Slowly but surely baggers at the grocery are disappearing and becoming clueless on how to do it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 Knocker-uppers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 4 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: Knocker-uppers ......... ummmmmmmm, ...... you sure 'bout that ?? 🤔 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 45 minutes ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said: ......... ummmmmmmm, ...... you sure 'bout that ?? 🤔 Look up knocker-up in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A knocker-up in Leeuwarden, 1947 A knocker-up or knocker-upper was a member of a profession[1] in the Netherlands, Britain, Ireland, and some other countries that started during, and lasted well into, the Industrial Revolution, when alarm clocks were neither cheap nor reliable. A knocker-up's job was to rouse sleeping people so they could get to work on time.[2][3] By the 1940s and 1950s, this profession had more or less entirely died out, although it still continued in some pockets of industrial England until the early 1970s.[4] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 48 minutes ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said: ......... ummmmmmmm, ...... you sure 'bout that ?? 🤔 2 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: Look up knocker-up in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A knocker-up in Leeuwarden, 1947 A knocker-up or knocker-upper was a member of a profession[1] in the Netherlands, Britain, Ireland, and some other countries that started during, and lasted well into, the Industrial Revolution, when alarm clocks were neither cheap nor reliable. A knocker-up's job was to rouse sleeping people so they could get to work on time.[2][3] By the 1940s and 1950s, this profession had more or less entirely died out, although it still continued in some pockets of industrial England until the early 1970s.[4] ........ is it ok if I get my mind out of the gutter now ? 🙃 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 1 minute ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said: ........ is it ok if I get my mind out of the gutter now ? 🙃 Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 Oddly enough visiting England in the late '70's the phrase was still in use. An English couple we had made friends with offered to "come knock us up in the morning" great hilarity when we explained our initial reaction. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted September 27 Share Posted September 27 The phrase now means, or so I've heard, to call someone on the telephone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 Posted September 27 Share Posted September 27 14 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: Yes Thank You 🙃 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 Another obsolete job… quatorzième he was a professional dinner guest available with suitable attire on short notice. Whenever a group was to be thirteen for dinner, he could be called upon to assure that the meal would not be unlucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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