Occupations that no longer exist.

[Eyresandgraces]

I was changing the bed and remembered that in the 1970’s, so not that long ago, dh’s aunt was a tick turner for Fogarty’s.
She spent her whole working day turning pillowcases the correct way round and pointing the corners with her thumbs.
i can’t imagine such a monotonous job.

I found a list of old occupations but Tick turner is not listed.

A Tosher made a living by scavenging the Victorian sewers. Grim.

Please feel free to add any you can think of.

https://rmhh.co.uk/occup/a.html

The pools man/woman. that's what we called them anyway. Back in the 80s my dad would do the "pools" and spot the ball and the man used to come to the door with the coupons and collect payment. I used to love putting the crosses on the sheet on spot the ball for my dad, we never won though!

My daughter and her bf were helping me clear out my parents old house and asked me did I learn Arabic as a youngster, when they found my old Pitman's shorthand notebooks in the loft.

We still have a rag and bone man with a horses and cart.

The coal man that used to drive through the streets delivering sacks of coal to people's homes.
My gran had a coal seller at the side of her house, we had ours in a wooden box

I have. a scar on the top of my foot because I took a bottle from the Corona man (despite my mum shouting at me not to as I was 3), and promptly dropped it and it smashed. Not sure what she was more angry about - my bloody foot or a wasted bottle of pop.

My gran would count the bags being emptied into the coal shed ..she didn't trust the coal mannie not to cheat her.

They all seem to use a long pipe/hose and recycled water now. Just as well as we have a 3 storey house and a ladder wouldn't reach. Much safer as well even for 2 storey houses.

In the early 70s I did office cleaning after school. There was a woman there who kept telling me I should train as a telephone operator with the GPO as that was a good job and much better for a woman than going to university. I'm sure it was a good job at the time but I did not follow her advice.

What a great thread

There’s a small joinery workshop just down the road from where I live in rural Ireland and they make wooden staircases and other bespoke items. I buy bags of offcuts for my log burner occasionally.

Leggers - people tgst eould "walk" canal boats through narrow tunnels - now only really used by heritage waterways for open days.

When I started work in consulting engineering the mid 90s we had a drawing office and a typing pool.

Now everyone does their own typing and drawing on PC or laptop.

My dad too. And video player repairs.

I have a friend who is, or was, a book translator, though genre rather than literary fiction. He's really struggling and having to turn his hand to content creation.

Phone your nearest Kingdom Hall.

Due to the lifestyle of Jehovah's Witnesses (attending meetings and 'witnessing') not all jobs fit nicely with it, but window cleaner does.

I have a window cleaner as part of my rent, I mean my rent pays for the windows to be cleaned.

My dad was a typesetter. I was so proud of him. He was so quick and had To be a great speller - and backwards!

Is there still such a thing as directory equiries? That must’ve employed lots of people!

My window cleaner is a ladder and bucket man.

So is ours - I feel nervous seeing him up the ladder waving his arms around.

Clippy....like On The Buses.

My mate used to work for Directory Enquiries. She had so many funny stories to tell. One involved a poor old man who had forgotten his own telephone number. She asked him for his address, and waited patiently while he walked to his front door, went outside and checked his own house number (as he'd forgotten it), came back and told her. Bless him. There were also people who thought it was a number for any old enquiry. Someone once rang and asked her how to spell marmalade. 🙄 😂

I remember the pools man coming round! We used to call him the 50 pence man as we always had to pay him 50p. 😂

Messenger. My Dad was a messenger in the late 50s/early 60s in London. He worked for a big insurance firm and they used to send him around London with messages for other firms. He used to walk or catch the tube. Don't know why they didn't just telephone! Maybe he was delivering letters that couldn't wait until the next day or something. He was probably the human precursor to the fax machine. 😂

My Mum tells me that she remembers the rag and bone man shouting out "Rag Boooooone!" and the coal man shouting out "Coal man coal!" always in the same tune. I remember the newspaper sellers. "Read all about it!" 😆

When I did office work in the 70s I used to get sent on errands like that. It was a nice break from sitting at a desk.

So was my Mum. 😀