<p>I thought it was going to be a trot through ancient history (candle-making, that kind of thing), and to my surprise, I’d had TWO of the jobs that no longer exist: copy boy (at a newspaper that no longer exists either(and yes, I did answer to ‘boy!’ as part of the job)) and typesetter (a second job when I was just out of college–my day job was as grammar police and editor for a chemical engineering group). It made me wonder which current jobs wouldn’t exist when my children are my age.</p>
<p>I think plastic engineering is one we’ll see go obsolete, or greatly reduced growth, in future as more and more people realise how bad plastic is.</p>
<p>^^Dead wrong. Maybe what is known as “traditional” plastics is dead, but not the field of polymer chemistry. Plastics are polymers, and polymer chemistry is the chemistry of the future (biocompatible implants, artificial tissues, biosensors, catalysts for green processes, etc. - even biodegradable plastics!). Small molecule chemistry is the chemistry of the past.</p>
<p>I used to have a job keypunching IBM cards. It was really boring, but it paid better than my previous job of pasting labels on jars of spaghetti sauce. :)</p>
<p>Best job EVER–dancer (stripper) driver. Worst–hot tar melter.<br>
I was recently invited to the reunion party of the “dance” place in San Diego which is still in business.</p>
<p>Almost all plastics are made from crude oil. The plastics industry is as sustainable as the supply of oil, no less, no more. When oil runs out, plastics will go away. Till then, you really have no idea how ubiquitous they are. They are quite literally everywhere. It’s kind of scary, really.</p>
<p>Southport Lanes in Chicago still has live pinsetters! If you stuff a $1 bill into one of the finger holes of your ball, the pinsetter will help you cheat. :D</p>
<p>People need to be conservative, so what I’m saying is as more people become aware of these environmental issues they will be more conservative and less plastic items will be made.</p>
<p>There is a such thing as natural rubbers, plastic too can be made from plants and vegetation like corn, it’s called “Number 0 plastic” my University is working really hard to find new alternatives. In the meantime we’re all recycling and stating recycling programs, it’s just great!</p>
<p>My very first job was for my grandfather. I stuffed envelopes with slips that were, essentially, bill collection notices. In the top left corner was a little drawing of a guy drowning in a lake with one finger up (if it was the first collection notice), or 2, then 3. Each time the guy was lower in the picture so the third notice showed only his hand above water.</p>
<p>I entered everything by pen, used a postage stamp, and wrote the accounting ledger by hand.</p>
<p>There was no central credit rating bureau or data base, as far as I know. Just a lot of small business that couldn’t collect, shoving their billables from their shoeboxes into my grandfather’s hands.</p>
<p>Today I understand I was “the repo man” but at the time I was just proud to work for a few dollars and eat lunch with my grandfather downtown.</p>
<p>It’s not efficient to make plastics this way today. I’d love to see that change and commend anyone who makes strides toward “green” plastics, but I’m not optimistic. I wouldn’t tell anyone not to try, though. It’s a worthwhile effort no matter how it turns out.</p>
<p>I filed stuff in manila files for student records at a university in 1981.temporary file clerk… surely these records are all on the computer now?</p>
<p>Ahh, those 13 column ledgers, at least 18" wide, 12" tall, 3 metal posts on the left to spear on the addt’l pages. Those things were heavy. They never told us in school we needed to be strong to be an accounting major…Thank goodness we have it down to flashdrives and servers in my middle age.</p>
<p>The girls danced, I drove them around San Diego. In the words of Amy Sedaris as Jerri Blank–good times. I was 24–they were 18-maybe 25. It was 1974.</p>
<p>Like srw I also sold typewriters. Convincing office supply dealers to purchase a word processor rather than a computer was not easy. </p>
<p>I had a job where I got paid to sleep. Once a week I’d drive to the mental hospital, drink a milkshake with something in it, and then have cords and stuff tied to my head so they could read my brainwaves during the night. Some nights I was given a placebo. I figured I had to sleep anyways so why not get paid for it.</p>
but I used to sell typewriters, I don’t think they make them any more at all.</p>