Top 10 Jobs That Don't Exist Anymore

These days it’s pretty easy to set an alarm on your phone, a smart speaker or even a clock. Before you know it, an annoying beeping has you crawling out of bed. But did you know that at one time, you could get a job as a “knocker-upper” which was essentially a human alarm clock. Found mainly overseas, especially in Britain, the name describes someone who would literally knock on your window to try and wake you up. They could be seen on the street with long sticks tapping on windows, or in some cases, even use pea shooters on the glass.

Have you ever heard of a refrigerator referred to as an “ice box”? Wonder where the name came from? In the days before freezers and fridges that could keep themselves cool, believe it or not, they relied on large blocks of ice to be loaded into them to keep the contents cold. “Ice Cutters” were the folks employed to cut the large blocks of ice. The “ice man” would then deliver it to your home and you’d have frozen goods for a few days before having to replace it. Modern technology has essentially eliminated these jobs aside from the need to carve ice for sculptures, and unique hotels.

Hop on down to your corner store and you’re likely to find a few different varieties of milk. It’s taken for granted you will find it at the grocery, a convenience store, and even gas stations. Yet there was an era where people didn’t get all of their groceries in one place. Milk was generally only available from one company within an area, and it was always brought courtesy of the milkman. Glass bottles of milk would be delivered to your home, and the empties returned. Once a week or so, the milkman would return and the cycle continued. Aside from jokes about infidelity, not much is heard about the milkman anymore.

A common news story today is hearing about how some hacker was able to intercept communications and use it for nefarious purposes. So it’s no surprise that even back as far as World War I, the military was concerned about secure communication. To thwart would-be eavesdroppers, the forces would send urgent orders and messages by motorcycle courier instead of using radio transmissions that could be intercepted. A little more advanced than the “Pony Express” but certainly secure. With no means to capture a radio transmission, the riders became very popular over both WWI and WWII.

Is it a weird dance that we all forgot about? Was it a slang term for when you take your glass off the fountain pop machine? None of the above folks. In fact, a soda jerk was someone who operated the soda fountain machine in various stores back in the 1940s. Along with filling drink and ice cream beverages, the “jerks” were expected to socialize and entertain any of the patrons within the store. Despite having the word “jerk” in the name, it was actually a coveted position aimed at men with outgoing personalities and qualities that would keep the customers coming back for more.

So yes, we know that a few of these may still exist. But by and large, most full video rental places have gone out of business and been replaced by streaming services. Video store employees would be the ones responsible for renting you your moves, games, and sometimes equipment from the store. They were also the ones that would cringe every time someone wasn’t kind and didn’t rewind a VHS tape. But of all things we hated, it was returning that movie just a little past the return time and having to pay that employee the dreaded “late charge.” Can’t say we miss these folks!

Anyone who worked in the print industry years ago would be blown away by how the hardcopy process has changed over the years. At one time, a “typesetter” was responsible for lining up all of the letters, numbers, and spaces in a special typeset machine. Different fonts and sizes had unique blocks which had the character or symbol printed backwards on them so they would “print” correctly. The setter would line all of these up in correct order and load them into the machine to be used to “print” a line, or paragraph of text. They would then be removed, cleaned, and stored for their next use. Thank you digital revolution!

This entry is one that shows how even the simplest of technology has changed how people work. Most common streetlights today are connected to the power grid, and turn on and off as the sun sets and rises. How exactly would you get similar ones up and running if they were oil or candle based? Cue the lamplighter. Just as the name implies, a lamplighter was responsible for manually lighting each lamppost as the sun went down. When morning arose, they would then again make the same trip and butt out any lights still running. This job became unnecessary once electric lamps were introduced.

Make one mention of a bowling alley and immediately the sounds of crashing pins fill the air, along with the smell of shoe disinfectant. You roll the ball down the lane and jump for joy when the strike comes. Magically, the pins get swept under and mysteriously set themselves back up. It’s not really magic but more ingenuity. There was a time where “pin boys” were responsible for collecting the fallen pins, and putting them back on the lane for the next turn. You could spot them behind the pins at the end of the lane just waiting for their next job. Sadly, once the auto-pinsetting machine was invented, these little jobs went away.

Today, no one even gives a second thought about placing a call on their phone. Through advanced telecommunication technology, there’s a box somewhere that knows how to connect you to whomever you are calling. That wasn’t always the case. At one time, you had to pick up the phone and ask an operator to connect you to someone else. Seated at a “switchboard,” the operator would connect you directly to the other person. For long distance calls, they would have to connect with an operator from another area, and would actually log how much time was spent on the line.