Has-been Occupations

[Mr. Bonney]

It's pretty hard to find a cobbler these days, and a reputable watchmaker is darn near impossible. Last time the wife needed her watch looked at the local jewelry store (in AZ) said they outsource all their watch repairs to some guy in Michigan!

Landline phone repair.
Bicycle repair for anything not the flavor of the month.
Counter people who actually KNOW the field for the parts they are selling.
Retail sales people who have a personality above that of a cold fish.

 

[garyg]

Statesman.

+1, long gone sadly

 

[emwolf]

It's pretty hard to find a cobbler these days, and a reputable watchmaker is darn near impossible. Last time the wife needed her watch looked at the local jewelry store (in AZ) said they outsource all their watch repairs to some guy in Michigan!

Landline phone repair.
Bicycle repair for anything not the flavor of the month.
Counter people who actually KNOW the field for the parts they are selling.
Retail sales people who have a personality above that of a cold fish.

I really get this. Nowadays people are hired as cheaply as possible. I miss the days going into a clothing store and saying to the clerk, "I'm a 42 long." and the clerk shaking his head and saying, "no, you're a 46 regular." He knew his business and he earned mine that way.

 

[Raissermesser]

Landline phone repair.

Not obsolete here. Cell phone towers usually communicate via landlines. Granted these aren't your residential phone drop, but the wiring is still there. Just ask anyone who uses an auger or trencher much, and forgets the Call Before you Dig number. Trenchers and augers are the best cable locators known to man.

 

[Haggises]

Expect full-time pluckers are out of work; the job has been automated. Can't be many part-time pluckers, either. A fellow who is fast with his hands might get a job shucking oysters, tho.

Did they automate pheasant pluckers yet? Wonder what job the traditional pheasant plucker's son will take up in these modern time.

 

[Rhody]

Self checkout
Ordering at a restaurant by ipad.
Self driving cars


But things are shifting in the service industry too
I was in a local coffee bakery today and a guy was waiting for an order holding a freezer type insulated bag. Third party delivery of some sort for one bag of stuff.

 

[Saxonbowman]

Did they automate pheasant pluckers yet? Wonder what job the traditional pheasant plucker's son will take up in these modern time.

I think we can add pheasants to the list. At least I heard there weren't many left.

 

[garyg]

Growing up in a suburb of the fifties, there were pheasants all over .. now in a suburb there are none

 

[John Rose]

Retail sales people who have a personality above that of a cold fish.

You need to go to a small town for that. Many of them know us by name, and recall what our "usual order" is.

I really get this. Nowadays people are hired as cheaply as possible. I miss the days going into a clothing store and saying to the clerk, "I'm a 42 long." and the clerk shaking his head and saying, "no, you're a 46 regular." He knew his business and he earned mine that way.

The guy we buy our prescription glasses from is like that. You go in thinking you know what you want, then he brings out a couple of frames that actually suit your face, and we always end up being happy with his choice. Now our rule is just "Get whatever Lester says".

I think we can add pheasants to the list. At least I heard there weren't many left.

They're all in my back yard, but then we're a small university town surrounded by agricultural activity. We also get the melanistic Ring-necked Pheasants with purple breast feathers and (ironically) no neck ring.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

Until about 1963 Michigan had more pheasant hunters than deer hunters.

Pheasants now are as rare as saints in politics.

 

[DoctorShavegood]

Taxi drivers - I haven't seen one in a few years now unless I'm right downtown.

 

[RSC]

Stenographer, other than a court reporter using a stenotype machine. Not much use of Gregg shorthand these days, I bet.

 

[Old-Fashioned Coughy Pot]

In BC as a kid in the 70s in small-town BC there were people driving around the streets in a reefer truck selling those big boxes of apples from the Okanagan area, some 14-16 hour drive away from us. You'd here about it through the grapevine and keep looking for 'em to drive buy. There was a old guy that would drive around getting beer bottles and pop bottles & he would buy yours for a fair price & he would take 'em to the recycling place so he could make a modest profit. Very convenient.

 

[Doc4]

Encyclopedia salesman

Taxi drivers - I haven't seen one in a few years now unless I'm right downtown.

yeah, they are uber-hard to find.

 

[DoctorShavegood]

yeah, they are uber-hard to find.

Door to Door Newspaper subscription salesman.

 

[August West]

yeah, they are uber-hard to find.

That occupation could definitely use a lyft.

 

[oc_in_fw]

yeah, they are uber-hard to find.

Yep. People are now willing to jump in a car with a stranger who has no background checks, then, if something goes wrong, the person who employs them has zero liability. Ah, the “beauty” of de-regulation.

 

[emwolf]

Yep. People are now willing to jump in a car with a stranger who has no background checks, then, if something goes wrong, the person who employs them has zero liability. Ah, the “beauty” of de-regulation.

Plus the lost municipal revenue. Don't worry, they'll make it up with other taxes

 

[oc_in_fw]

Plus the lost municipal revenue. Don't worry, they'll make it up with other taxes

Yep, they sure will.

 

[August West]

The Rideshare Vetting Process: How Uber and Lyft Screen Drivers