<p>As a grad student I worked part-time in a hotel as the night switchboard operator --plugging cords in on a board and phoning a list of people with their wake-up calls. </p>
<p>putting nickels in to get your food in a New York Automat</p>
<p>putting subway tokens in a turnstile (we swipe metrocards now)</p>
<p>threading film in an 8 mm home movie projector</p>
<p>giving members of the household phone messages written down on paper.</p>
<p>writing long letters to friends away on summer vacation-avoiding expensive long distance phone calls. </p>
<p>waiting by the telephone in case a guy called for a date.</p>
<p>putting your hair up in rollers at night</p>
<p>making popcorn without a microwave or popper.</p>
<p>Using a teletype machine. I worked in the US with an office in London. The boss would call one of the “girls” to run to his office to send messages to our office in the UK…I have explained this process to my teenagers…they are spooked by it…the paper tape, etc. is too strange to them in this day of email and IM…and cel phones.<br>
Which of course, reminds me of the “hall” phone in my college dorm.</p>
<p>Slightly off topic: The “hall phone” reminded me that we also had a hall “trash chute” into which one dumped trash. One somewhat dim student set her trash can on fire and ran down the hall with it, not to put it in the shower, but to throw it down the trash chute! Fortunately someone in the basement laundry room knew how to use a fire extinguisher. </p>
<p>I guess using a fire extinguisher might be a skill some of our kids have missed…definitely not obsolete</p>
<p>Adjusting a carburetor. Bump-starting a car. Installing a new program in Windows 3.0! (As I remember, this last one usually involved the invocation of the phrase “Autoexec that, you @#$%$$##@$” at least once or twice.)</p>
<p>Counting words and column inches and writing headlines to fit a fixed word/space limit based on the column widths and length of the page layout.
Reading galleyproofs for the school paper and the smell of "hot"type where the boys in “print shop” were linotyping.</p>
<p>Draughting
Slide Rule
Hanging Laundry on the line rather than using a dryer
Writing long handwritten letters
Site model-making (all cut out by computerized router now)
Speaking politely to Bank agents because you knew you’d see them soon
Turning television channels
Living with wrinkles
Living with pale skin
Living with yellow teeth
Living with chipped teeth
Living with acne
Living with glasses
Living with grey hair
Telex
Faxing using waxy paper on a roll.
Writing cheques
Keeping track of bank staements as they arrive once a month
Using paper airplane tickets
Using a key to open the car</p>
<p>What about penmenship for architects? I remember they had to practice, practice, practice until they could write like a typewriter. It was beautiful to behold such legible writing!</p>
<p>Making change without a calculator or register</p>
<p>Picking fresh fruit with a buddy on the ground to help catch it.</p>
<p>Memorizing phone numbers & addresses.</p>
<p>“Mental” math</p>
<p>Being able to repair cars & hear what was wrong with them by just listening to the motor</p>
<p>I used to have to show my son’s friends how to use the dial phone I have in the living room. They would look at it like my father looks at a computer. The telephone company came one day to check out my adsl line and saw the phone and said it had to go…hah, hah. It is still here.</p>
<p>I loved the IBM selectric- especially that little ball that jumped around when you typed. I also liked to type on Thesis Paper and fit everything between those pink lines. I hated trying to fit footnotes in at the bottom of the page and typing an entire page over because of mistakes.
I had a roommate who was a Home Ec major- I guess they don’t have that anymore!</p>
<p>Ah, remember having ONE original & multiple carbons, each a different color–the white tissue one that said COPY prominently on it, the yellow copy, blue copy, green and pink copy. For each mistake I made, I had to use the CORRECT COLOR of correction fluid & then find the exact spot where I made the error to type the corrected info. It was that summer I learned I would not master clerical speed & accuracy! :(</p>