Vintage professions you'd like to see come back.....

[pompsnpincurls]

It's not so much that I want to see particular professions come back as it's that I'd like to see the economic and societal conditions that allowed those professions to exist at all come back.

Amen to that .

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Both my folks do. My Dad owns a gun store, and is a land developer. My mother is a mechanic at the cheese factory where I work. I blame a lot of it, personally on how many more expenses there are these days. Cell phones, satellite dish, internet, multiple cars and insurance, so many parents have to purchase and insure cars for their kids as well.

Apparently the thing nowadays is to have both parents working, even if 90% of one of the parent's income goes to day care costs while kids develop deep resentment towards their parents. Doesn't make any sense to me . I'd rather take care of my home and family than to bust my butt at an unappreciative company for 10%.

 

[LordBest]

I was goingto say 'chimney sweep', but they still exist, so huzzah.

 

[W-D Forties]

I originally trained as a shoe designer and maker, I suppose that's a pretty old school profession. I don't do it now, alas, as unless you can privately fund yourself to set up in business there are very few jobs doing it commercially.

 

[pompsnpincurls]

Both my folks do. My Dad owns a gun store, and is a land developer. My mother is a mechanic at the cheese factory where I work. I blame a lot of it, personally on how many more expenses there are these days. Cell phones, satellite dish, internet, multiple cars and insurance, so many parents have to purchase and insure cars for their kids as well.

That's very true, it is more expensive to live nowadays. I think the thing that gets me though are people I know that tell me flat out they barely make more than what it takes to cover daycare. It boggles my mind!

 

[JimWagner]

I wouldn't mind seeing the return of the full service gas station complete with pump jockeys. Funny how when gasoline was less than $.30/gal you could have someone pump it, check your oil, clean your windows and even check the air in your tires. Now that it's pushing $3/gal half the time they can't even be bothered to give you a receipt.

It used to give a lot of young men their first jobs, too.

 

[rue]

I wouldn't mind seeing the return of the full service gas station complete with pump jockeys. Funny how when gasoline was less than $.30/gal you could have someone pump it, check your oil, clean your windows and even check the air in your tires. Now that it's pushing $3/gal half the time they can't even be bothered to give you a receipt.

It used to give a lot of young men their first jobs, too.

Amen to that! It wasn't too long ago that they had full service, was it? :shocked:

 

[scottyrocks]

I wouldn't mind seeing the return of the full service gas station complete with pump jockeys. Funny how when gasoline was less than $.30/gal you could have someone pump it, check your oil, clean your windows and even check the air in your tires. Now that it's pushing $3/gal half the time they can't even be bothered to give you a receipt.

It used to give a lot of young men their first jobs, too.

Years ago, I found out that in certain states, in this case NJ, the attendants are required to pump the gas for you.

We had been riding through on our motorcycles and stopped for gas. No one I know allows anyone they dont know to place a gas nozzle anywhere near their bikes. Some of these guys had big buck paint jobs. We all made it a habit to do it ourselves. We had to practically take the hose from the attendant's hands and tell him no one was going to report him to the gas pump police.

 

[Atomic Age]

Amen to that! It wasn't too long ago that they had full service, was it? :shocked:

The last full service gas station I remember in my area was when I was a kid. That would have been around 1971 or so.

Doug

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Yeah, I never understood that either. Unless of course they have good insurance and the other working partner doesn't get insurance through their job.

That's very true, it is more expensive to live nowadays. I think the thing that gets me though are people I know that tell me flat out they barely make more than what it takes to cover daycare. It boggles my mind!

 

[David Conwill]

I speculate that a big reason for many couples to have both partners working is increased credit worthiness. It's far easier to live beyond your means when both spouses are employed.

-Dave

 

[rue]

The last full service gas station I remember in my area was when I was a kid. That would have been around71 or so.

Doug

You're aging me :cry:
Actually I do remember some in the 80s, because I would use them myself when I first started driving around 1985, but they were hard to find. There's nothing worse than getting all dressed up and realizing that you need to get gas :eusa_doh:

 

[LizzieMaine]

The last full service gas station I remember in my area was when I was a kid. That would have been around 1971 or so.

Doug

There's one down the corner from me right now -- they don't do repairs or mechanical service, but they do pump your gas, check your oil, and do the windshield. (But I think the bulk of their business comes from selling cheap cigars and lottery tickets to the neighborhood loafers.)

 

[JimWagner]

Amen to that! It wasn't too long ago that they had full service, was it? :shocked:

I worked as a pump jockey for a while back in 1972 while in college. Seems like full service stations were already on the way out then. The station I worked at had both self-serve and full-serve pumps. Price was the same, though.

 

[MissMittens]

I'd like to see the return of mom+pop grocery stores, and the corner drugstore that sells real milkshakes and floats, not reconstituted milk-solids like McDonalds, etc.

 

[Fletch]

Amen to the corner grocery...

Van's Grocery & Meats, Ames, IA. 4 different owners from 1930-'57, which tells you it wasn't the best business to be in. The Van Patters had the store and the house in back from '52-'57. Click for bigger.

I don't think they sold washing machines. I know they didn't sell moonshine. But hey, carryout beer.

 

[MissMittens]

Wowzers. There is actually a butcher's shop about 8 miles from where I live, tucked in the countryside. It's been family run since the 1930's, when the land around it apparently used to be their farm. Now it's all housing developments and McMansions, but the butcher is still there.

I go there sometimes for a real cut instead of the grocery store, but wish it was more conveniently located.

 

[CharlieB]

I work in the IT department of a fairly large grocery chain, so I may be just a bit biased.

I can remember my mother going to the butcher, the baker and the grocer. Separate trips to stores that were miles apart. That is one thing I do not miss!

What I don't like is the X-marts carrying groceries. I don't want to buy a steak and a pack of under pants in the same store!

 

[MissMittens]

I don't want to buy a steak and a pack of under pants in the same store!

Brings a whole different meaning to "Where's the Beef?"

 

[scottyrocks]

I work in the IT department of a fairly large grocery chain, so I may be just a bit biased.

I can remember my mother going to the butcher, the baker and the grocer. Separate trips to stores that were miles apart. That is one thing I do not miss!

What I don't like is the X-marts carrying groceries. I don't want to buy a steak and a pack of under pants in the same store!

Sort of an obscenely large general store.