Waffle
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Post by Waffle on Jan 6, 2014 13:55:04 GMT -5
I saw an article on salary.com about extinct jobs (even though some of the jobs they listed aren't extinct). It made me wonder have you ever worked a job that is now extinct. I did a brief stint as a switchboard operator.
If anyone is interested, the link to the article is here .
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comom1
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Post by comom1 on Jan 6, 2014 13:59:01 GMT -5
My first job was as a carhop at an A&W in my hometown. Technically, the job isn't extinct. Sonic has carhops, but I haven't seen an A&W use them in years and years.
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kittensaver
Junior Associate
We cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love. - Mother Teresa
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Post by kittensaver on Jan 6, 2014 14:07:54 GMT -5
I had a now-extinct job in college. I operated and trouble-shooted the punch card reader on the old monster mainframe computer (the one that took up an entire room and had its own temperature-control system) that undergrad students used at my university. And now you know how old I am!
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shanendoah
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Post by shanendoah on Jan 6, 2014 14:08:40 GMT -5
I worked as a video store clerk. (Local chain, but stores on par with Blockbuster.) Technically not extinct as there are a very small number of video stores still around, but for the most part extinct.
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Sharon
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Post by Sharon on Jan 6, 2014 14:15:06 GMT -5
I was a data entry operator on a card punch machine. At one point in time I could even read the punches and pretty punch decipher what it said. I think an 11 punch plus a 1 punch was an "A".
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Tennesseer
Member Emeritus
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Post by Tennesseer on Jan 6, 2014 14:20:32 GMT -5
I used to be a brontosaurus rancher (for the steak and burger industry) but the beasts fell out of favor with the public.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2014 14:22:12 GMT -5
I worked in a book store which is almost extinct.
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cktc
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Post by cktc on Jan 6, 2014 14:45:24 GMT -5
I currently work in travel and groan every time one of these list comes out declaring travel agents extinct, glad the verdict here is just evolving. It's a more exclusive lot and there are no longer schools for it, but there are plenty of travel professions that are still thriving, e.g. corporate, luxury, niche.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2014 15:11:00 GMT -5
I haven't although there have been constant moves to make teachers extinct . . . educational television, computerized instruction, and currently online education. Somehow we have survived, and it is not just because we have a good "union." Kids need personal interaction with adults. But that's another thread. When I got divorced in 1998, I applied for several retail jobs. One of the first to make me an offer was JC Penney's to be their switchboard operator. So that's not quite extinct if you think about it. The secretaries at the front desk at our school also function as switchboard operators. Someone calls the main number, and they connect the caller to the correct extension. So I'd put that down as evolving and not extinct yet.
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swamp
Community Leader
THEY’RE EATING THE DOGS!!!!!!!
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Post by swamp on Jan 6, 2014 15:12:52 GMT -5
I've had pretty run of the mill jobs: lifeguard, snack bar cashier and sandwich maker, tutor, mail room clerk, waitress, sub shop.
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Waffle
Senior Member
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Post by Waffle on Jan 6, 2014 15:14:40 GMT -5
I can't recall the last time I called the main number of a business and got a real person (other than a little "mom and pop" type store). But, I don't have any reason to call a school, maybe it's still typical for schools.
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whoami
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Post by whoami on Jan 6, 2014 15:24:17 GMT -5
My first job was as a carhop at an A&W in my hometown. Technically, the job isn't extinct. Sonic has carhops, but I haven't seen an A&W use them in years and years. It was such a treat to go get a root beer at A&W when we were kids.
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The Captain
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Hugs are good...
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Post by The Captain on Jan 6, 2014 15:25:56 GMT -5
I used to be a backup operator in college. My job was to swap out the reels of magnetic tap, label, and rotate them for off-site storage.
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tractor
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Post by tractor on Jan 6, 2014 15:34:32 GMT -5
My first job was as a carhop at an A&W in my hometown. Technically, the job isn't extinct. Sonic has carhops, but I haven't seen an A&W use them in years and years. The A&W in our town still uses car hops. Hasn't changed since it opened. Many still use roller skates to get around.
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Deleted
Joined: Oct 8, 2024 11:40:21 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2014 15:41:27 GMT -5
I worked as an aide in an institution... That institution is gone, as are many, although some still exist. I think that's more of an evolve though... Going towards community care...
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Regis
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Post by Regis on Jan 6, 2014 15:42:37 GMT -5
I can't recall the last time I called the main number of a business and got a real person (other than a little "mom and pop" type store). But, I don't have any reason to call a school, maybe it's still typical for schools. Which is EXACTLY the reason we always used a real person to answer the phone when I had my own company. It made us distinct from all the others!
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Deleted
Joined: Oct 8, 2024 11:40:21 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2014 15:47:43 GMT -5
Age 10-13, Paperboy..
Not only are newspapers on long term decline, but our paper is delivered by an adult in a car.
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Sam_2.0
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Post by Sam_2.0 on Jan 6, 2014 16:21:58 GMT -5
Customer Service. Oh, wait...
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cronewitch
Junior Associate
I identify as a post-menopausal childless cat lady and I vote.
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Post by cronewitch on Jan 6, 2014 16:43:50 GMT -5
I did real software support. We got calls and figured out how to make the software do what they wanted or explained why they shouldn't do that. We could log on and fix crashed post in the files, read code and figure out what a post was doing when it crashed and update all the files. Now you get a website to find the answers or told restore from back up for the most part. I earned 65K doing it in 1999 but then all the current jobs are not even half that.
Another thing that is gone is upgrading software. We would write batch files and upgrade software versions over modems but ow they mail a disk and expect you to upgrade your own or you down load an upgrade. Come to think of it I have seen them on disk for a while.
I spent 5 days upgrading a client on a VMS system, he hadn't upgraded for years so I had to do all the research of his file dates and what needed upgraded first and upgrade two partitioned drives one was for his work the other was for his own programmer who created custom programs for him. Sometimes his programmer used the same file names we used so I had to figure out which files to use by date created. I was a VMS expert and UNIX expert and DOS. You don't see much anymore but windows.
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imawino
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Post by imawino on Jan 6, 2014 16:48:55 GMT -5
I was a telephone operator for AT&T. I think that is pretty much extinct.
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Tiny
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Post by Tiny on Jan 6, 2014 16:50:13 GMT -5
I was a 'counter girl' at the local family owned Bakery. I loved that job. There are still a couple of small bakeries (where the donuts/sweetrolls, bread, cakes) get made in the bakery in the back 'room' in my area there were atleast a dozen of these old time bakeries - and now there's only 4 and 2 of those are now Mexican bakeries (not a bad thing at all! Yum!!) the other two bakeries still have their original names. The other buildings that were bakeries are no longer bakeries.
I was also "morning operator/JR. Programmer" - the night shift operator would finish up about 2 hours before I got in... my job was to pull tapes off the tape drive in the morning (from the end of the previous night's processing), to switch the diskettes in the S34 (also from last night's processing) and to pull the reports out of the 4 high speed green bar printers - replace the paper and then run the 3 and 4 part reports thru the 'decolator'? - it removed the carbon paper from between the green bar pages - there were boxes of these already printed from the night shift. I'd prep the reports and hand deliver boxes of reports to various departments on a hand 'truck'. There were some other machines that required human interventions that I had to deal with as well... all of the machinery/somputers have gone extinct.
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Mardi Gras Audrey
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So well rounded, I'm pointless...
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Post by Mardi Gras Audrey on Jan 7, 2014 1:41:27 GMT -5
I worked various jobs at a company that processed film and printed photos (Pre-digital photography). These jobs are definitely extinct (the company I worked for closed down completely in 2008). while I am sad that these jobs are gone (they were fun!), there are a lot of pictures that are now seen only by the people who should see them (Yes, when you sent your roll of 35 mm in for prints, humans did see them. We got all kinds of fun stuff in our lab. My time in Quality Control was eye opening!)
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thyme4change
Community Leader
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Post by thyme4change on Jan 7, 2014 8:10:50 GMT -5
Umpires extinct? What a weird article.
I was a papergirl.
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bookkeeper
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Post by bookkeeper on Jan 7, 2014 9:11:52 GMT -5
I worked in a county office for the Extension Service and 4-H programs. Those programs are still alive today, but they are evolving as well. My main job was to produce mailings and newsletters. I would type them up on an electric typewriter, take the finished original to the mimeograph master, make the master sheet, install it on the mimeograph printer and crank out hundreds of copies while sniffing the ink smell.
Copy machines were expensive in those days, and the mimeograph could make copies of printed material at a much lower cost.
Our church still uses a sort of mimeograph machine for bulletins and newsletters.
And I remember when fax machines had a cylinder that you wrapped your document around and an electronic eye scanned the document one line at a time. Faxes used to take around 5 minutes a page to send.
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skubikky
Senior Member
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Post by skubikky on Jan 7, 2014 13:13:58 GMT -5
I was a telephone operator for AT&T. I think that is pretty much extinct. In the summer of 1974 I was a switchboard operator at a hotel in the mountains. What a riot that was.
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tloonya
Junior Associate
What status?
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Post by tloonya on Jan 7, 2014 13:33:10 GMT -5
I'VE USED ABACUS! Accounting department of the huge plant in 1986 sometimes around those times.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Jan 7, 2014 15:10:29 GMT -5
I worked at the school library while in college. Not extinct per se, but it was on the list. Libraries and librarians will always be around in some capacity I think. If you're working on a serious research paper, you'll need more than a google search engine.
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Phoenix84
Senior Associate
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Post by Phoenix84 on Jan 7, 2014 15:17:13 GMT -5
I was surprised photographer wasn't on the list.
With good cameras and editing software available and affordable to most people, you don't need a professional photographer to take your family photos.
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Phoenix84
Senior Associate
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Post by Phoenix84 on Jan 7, 2014 15:22:18 GMT -5
I currently work in travel and groan every time one of these list comes out declaring travel agents extinct, glad the verdict here is just evolving. It's a more exclusive lot and there are no longer schools for it, but there are plenty of travel professions that are still thriving, e.g. corporate, luxury, niche. I know travel agents are still around. The government contracts travel agents to manage government travel websites.
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Deleted
Joined: Oct 8, 2024 11:40:21 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2014 18:34:41 GMT -5
I was a newspaper reporter! Nuff said LOL. (I know they are not totally extinct, but still.)
Speaking of which, where is KGB these days?
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