Lost Trades: The Forgotten Professions That Shaped History

Have you ever thought about waking up at sunrise to the sound of a “knocker-upper,” or risking your life as a powder monkey on a warship? Take a look at the lives of history’s forgotten workers and see how survival once depended on mastering jobs that have disappeared.

https://studyworkgrow.com/20-jobs-that-dont-exist-anymore/#h-carriage-makers

https://www.businessinsider.com/jobs-that-no-longer-exist#groom-of-the-stool-20

https://blog.myheritage.com/2014/09/labor-day-10-jobs-that-are-obsolete/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Welcome to the Cashley Show. We are Kevin and Ashley.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

We started this podcast after recent tragedies to take a break from negativity and discover the good things happening all around us.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

What are you looking for? Looking for things around us? Or is there supposed to be someone?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Waiting for the TV to turn off. Oh. The word of the day today is Scrumpulous. Close.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Oh really?

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Snolly Goster. That's not close. Scrumpulous.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Starts with an S. I guess what does Snollygoster? Yep. What does it mean?

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Snollygoster is a shrewd, unprincipled person, especially a politician.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Oh. What is the word again? Snolly Goster.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

So that's right here. Snollygoster.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Sounds like Charlie and Chocolate Factory Candy.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Can you see it?

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Snolly Goster.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

All right. Today's shout out is for Katherine. It is her birthday this week. So happy birthday, Katherine.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Happy birthday, Catherine.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

She's our neighbor.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Oh. Yeah, okay. I actually just want to say uh happy birthday, Kathy.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

She does not like that too, this is exactly why I said. The laffy taffy is what does the dad diet consist of?

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Chips and salsa.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Everything your kids didn't eat.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

I say that at every restaurant we go to.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

You do say it all the time. Especially at my dad's house.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Yep, a lot of times I don't even dish up. Aren't you gonna eat, Kevin? Oh, I'll eat. Yeah three plates over there.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

So we're gonna do the lost trades, the forgotten professions that shaped history.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Like a coal miner?

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yes, but ones aren't very as known. Throughout history, society depended on people whose jobs no longer exist. These trades once shaped daily life and helped drive progress, but vanished as technology advanced. Their stories show how ordinary workers built the world we know today. By learning about these lost jobs, we can better appreciate the resilience and creativity of those who came before us. The first one is Slubberdoffers. What's a Slubberdoffer, Kevin?

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Based off of the image a child laborer.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yes. Slubberdoffers Slubber means to perform hastily or carelessly. A doffer is someone who removes doffs. Those are bobbins, perns or spindles that hold spun fibers such as cotton or wool from spinning from a spinning frame and replaces them with empty ones. In early textile mills, sluber doffers, often children, quickly removed empty bobbins from spinning frames, working close to loud, heavy machines. The job was hard, repetitive, and dangerous, requiring both speed and bravery. When automated machines arrived, the need for sluber doffers disappeared and their work was replaced by new technology.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

They're just taking big spools off of machines. I guess they're not big spools because there's children doing it.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Yeah, but they're probably bigger than what we use at home today.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Huh.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Alright. Slubberduffer. Oh great. Now I don't know the what was the word of the day? Snucker locker. Snufferducker? Slubberlocker.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Snolly Gaster.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Snolligaster? Snolly. I'm not gonna remember this word. This isn't this is a made-up nonsense word.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Snally goster.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Alright.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Okay, next we have ice cutter. So we're before Richard.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Before Richard. Richard Refrigerator had his invention.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Before refrigerators, frozen lakes in winter became busy workplaces. Ice cutters used saw and strength to cut large blocks of ice, which were sent to homes and businesses. People relied on these workers for cold drinks and preserved food, using ice taken straight from nature.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

What about during the summer months? I feel like we talked about this once before.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

We did. We started this.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Because like these your lakes are only going to be frozen during winter times. I I don't necessarily want a cold drink during December.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Well, this looks like an incredibly dangerous job. The ice doesn't seem very thick. They're standing on it and sawing.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Right. Cutting a hole on the thing you're standing on.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Yep. Next, pin setters.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

For bowling.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

I guess I kind of just always figured bowling always had those machines setting them up because I feel like bowling is like an old game and that's an old time thing, and old machines will like just set that stuff up. So I figured it would that just always is how it was.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Was not. In a busy 1950s bowling alley, young teens called pinboys ran between lanes to reset pins by hand after each roll. They needed to be quick, agile, often dodging stray bowling balls to keep the game going. The job was fast-paced and demanding, adding excitement to every game.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

This is kind of like the driving range. You have the guy out there getting all the golf balls. Like that's what I always aim for. Now you got men standing at the end of young men, I guess, standing at the end of a bowling lane, and people are aiming for it.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

That's a little bit different. Do you think the floors are as slippery up at the top when this happened? When they had pin boys as they are now? Because I feel like they would be slipping and falling all the time. I don't know. Those bowling lanes are super slippery.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Plus, I would consider that the bottom of the lane.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Oh, whatever. I don't bowl, so it doesn't matter too. Yeah, I don't bowl either. You bowl much better than me. Next is scissor grinder.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

I don't do scissors need to be ground?

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Well, they definitely need to be it's for sharpening.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Oh, they're sharpening them? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

We definitely some of our scissors.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

But this profession doesn't exist anymore. Now we just got dull scissors. I know.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Now I should have to buy another one. Right. Because I don't know how to sharpen a scissor.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

This country.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

A street merchant moved through busy neighborhoods sharpening knives and scissors for customers. His rhythmic call rang out along the street as he let people know he was there, sometimes knocking on doors to find more work. Standing over his old grinding wheel, he pressed the three with his foot, making sparks fly as he sharpened each blade. Next one is the knocker uppers.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Knocker uppers. This is when your wife can't get pregnant. You call this guy. He comes and knocks her up.

unknown 6:57

No.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Before alarm clocks, towns relied on knocker uppers to wake people up for work.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Who woke up the knocker uppers?

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Maybe they stayed up all night and went to sleep after they woke, did their knocker upper job. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

I'm tired after you do knocker upper jobs.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

This is a family show, Kevin.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

I'm just saying that if you stay up all night and then you're in the morning running around doing this, you're gonna be tired.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

They use batons or long stick. These human alarm clocks walked the streets at dawn, tapping on windows and doors to make sure workers got up in time. From 400 BC through the Industrial Revolution, morning knock was how people started their day, relying on persistence instead of electricity.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

That's a long time that knock rubbers had had work. Mm-hmm. Right? It's like a thousand years. Yeah. More than a thousand.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Ready for your riddle?

SPEAKER_01 7:47

No job is safe.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

True.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Oh yes. I actually I don't remember the word of the day. Sl slolly gagger.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Snaw.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

You're gonna have to choose words that actually are words.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

I tried to find funny ones.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Snolly Snolly Gaster.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Snollygaster.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Well you yep, okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Okay, your riddle is ready. What do the numbers 11, 69, and 88 all have in common?

SPEAKER_01 8:11

1169 and 88?

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Oh, I already think I went too deep on this. Yep. There's Chinese math and prime numbers. Okay, so say it again. Oh wait, it's up on the screen. What do the numbers 1169 and 88 all have in common? 11, 8, 9. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

They're all the same upside down. That's right, setup.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

I guess.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Yes, they are.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Well, not in the font that you used. Those ones are not the same upside down.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

You're right. But I'm not changing my font because the whole thing's the same.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Well, he sabotaged me on this one.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Oh, it was my fault. Next one is the leech collector.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Always gotta be doing some bloodletting.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

In early medicine, leech collectors played an important role carrying animal legs. They walked through muddy marshes to gather leeches for doctors. Their work supported the common practice of bloodletting, which was to which was used to treat many illnesses.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Like too much blood.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

If sorry, the use of leeches was common in the 18th and 19th centuries in both Europe and America. For instant doc for instance, documents from 1833 show that France used 100 million leeches that year. Whoa. According to the Canadian Museum of Healthcare. Bloodletting via leeches was thought to release the patient of bad humors that make them sick. I don't know. To attract leeches from bloody pools, from muddy pools. It's going sideways today. To attract leeches from muddy pools, collectors sometimes led old horses into the water and removed the leeches from their skin. If they did not have animals, collectors would wade in themselves and let leeches attach to their own legs, all to gather these valuable creatures for medical use. God they don't do that anymore.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Yeah, that was all that was a sham. Apparently, because they don't do it anymore, I guess. Or big pharma. Maybe leeches were wonderful and big pharma shut it down. Could be. Because if all you need is a 25 cent leech or something. Or you just walk into some dirty water and get cured of your bad humors.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Next is lamplighters. The lamplighters. So before electricity, cities were lit by gas lamps. Thanks to lamplighters who made nightly rounds carrying ladders and poles, they walked through the streets lighting and putting out lamps by hand. Their work brought light to the city at night. Next is the powder monkey.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

What? What's a powder monkey? I guess you're gonna you're gonna tell us. I was about to ask, what's a powder monkey? But that's what this whole episode is about is these weird jobs.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Yeah. Four child labor laws warships depended on powder monkeys, young boys, who did one of the most dangerous jobs at sea. Many powder monkeys were only twelve or fourteen, running across moving decks under enemy fire with bags of gunpowder for the cannons. For many poor boys, this risky job was their only way onto a ship, but every battle could mean serious injury or death at sea.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Generations were a lot tougher. They really were. They also probably died a lot younger.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Oh, for sure. These kids were not baby.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

I don't even I don't even think our kid in that age range can can make his own sandwich.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

He can, he just chooses not to.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

We're gonna lose the war.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Next one is switchboard operators. While we both know about these, I don't know about younger generations knowing about them, so I put it on here. During the early days of telephones, switchboard operators managed connections behind the scenes. Sitting in front of large panels with lights and cords, they quickly plugged and unplugged calls, sometimes handling hundreds in just a few minutes. Their work kept people connected until automated systems replaced them. I took the kids to a museum last week and we were talking to the lady about switchboards. That's kind of why I put it on here. Oh she's like, connect me to Tim Brown.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

And like, how do they how do they know?

SPEAKER_00 12:17

I don't know if they have like names on them. I don't know how they knew. Can we look it up?

SPEAKER_01 12:22

And like, not really. Like, what and what if I wanted to be connected to Tom in New York? Like, it's not like that's on a switchboard.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Right, they probably have to connect you to someplace else that connects you to someplace else, I would is what I would guess. Yeah, like hopping. Yeah. Next, Cashley's take wearing shoes. What are your feelings about wearing shoes? Like around the house, outside. Oh, okay. Not just like at work. Shoes in general. Shoes are a good thing. Obvious places you should wear them.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Um I don't wear shoes inside. I don't even wear shoes outside like when I'm around the house often. Like mocking my feet get a little dirty and kind of beat up. But that's I don't know. Should we bear I don't know, I like being barefoot in like the grass and dirt.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

So yeah, our kids are not shoe kids. We're home a lot and they're without shoes most of the time. And me too. We don't like shoes at our house.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Our oldest kid was just walking around the woods today, barefoot.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

That sounds that sounds right. All right. Next is resurrectionists or body snatchers.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Those seem like different things.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Well, they are the same name, I guess, back then. So at night, resurrectionists, also called body snatchers, went into graveyards with shovels to dig up recently buried bodies. Medical schools needed fresh cadavers, so this illegal trade became both important and unsettling. Although their actions were controversial, these people played a key role in the progress of medical science. Yeah, I know that they did it a lot with like unclaimed people or like criminals. Yeah. But I don't know how often they did it with like non-criminals or non-unclaimed people.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Right, just digging up randos.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Yeah, I guess it depends on how badly they needed a body. Alright, next is phrenologists. So this, in Victorian time, phrenologists would examine the bumps on a person's head, claiming they could tell intelligence, character, and fate from these features. Phrenology was once considered a science, but today its methods seem more like fortune telling than real medical science. Real medicine. Even though the idea of diagnosing psychological issues by feeling bumps on people's head is not supported today, phrenology still influenced modern psychology according to the Atlantic. Now neuroscientists know which parts of the brain are responsible for different functions, and psychologists better understand how thoughts and emotions work.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Yeah, I wonder like the bumps on your head, I I guess would be for a couple things, right? You know, like genes, like how and then like any accidents that happen, stuff like that. So I mean, I guess that kinda makes sense. Like if you know the person who has a bump here is always, I don't know, angry or whatever, and they have a kid, they're probably gonna have some bump similar and maybe also be angry. So yeah. I mean I doubt I doubt there's any real correlation, but there could be. Yeah, that could be interesting.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Alright, next is projectionist.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

For movies? This would have been a fun job.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Switch the reels. Switch the film. Because I don't know if like one waited and then switched, or if you just switched it and then they had to put feed the new film in.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Yeah, I don't I don't know how but yeah, it would need to happen fast. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

During the early days of cinema, projectionists made sure movies ran smoothly. Working above the audience, they watched for cues, switched reels, and kept the film going without problems. Today digital projectors have replaced most projectionists, but their skill is still remembered in classic films. Next is the chimney sweep.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Chimney sweep. Yeah. Is this like a job that was ever in America? I guess maybe in New York. I was thinking like New York City.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Did I say did I say North America on here? Chimney sweeps, often young boys or thin men. Squeezed into narrow chimneys with brushes to clean out layers of soot. Unlike the cheerful image from Mary Poppins, the real job was dangerous, dirty, difficult, and paid very little. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was common in Europe and North America for young children to clean chimneys. The flues were often very narrow, sometimes just eighteen inches wide. So most of the children were between five and eleven years old, though some were as young as four. Can you imagine? We have a four-year-old nephew. Can you imagine him being a chimney sweep? He would love. I doubt you could make him do that. Many were orphans or came from very poor families, and they were bought or taken from parishes. These children worked from dawn till dusk. That seems so sad. Almost every day of the year. They slept in soot, rarely bathed, and faced constant dangers like burn, suffocation, or falling.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Yeah, rough life.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

So rough. Our kids have it so easy now. Next is the rail signaler. Before computers, rail signalers managed train movements using flags, levers, and bell codes. Their careful work kept the trains on schedule and prevented accidents. While the job still exists, today's signalers use modern control panels instead of working outside by the track.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Yeah, the power, the power of those people controlling where like the train goes. This big giant train full of cars does what I tell it to. That part would be cool. Plus, like being close to a like a train going by is pretty cool. Like when we were coming back from California, right? Like we stopped and that train was going by and I got out, right? Like walked up to it, like going by. It's like the grounds all shaky. I was like, whoa, this it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Wish I could control it.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Alright, next we have the newlywed game. Next we have the newlywed game. Would your spouse say you have a better sense of humor, sense of time, sense of adventure, or common sense?

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Would my spouse say which one? So this is like one I would have.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

What would I say about you? Okay. So I think that you have a lot of common sense, but I think you have the best is a sense of humor.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Ding, that's what I wrote down. I can just say yes, because I didn't actually write it down.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Yeah, we should I should give you a piece of it. It's okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

No one will know.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

It's true.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Yep, I did write it down, everybody. It's right here.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Right here in his empty hand.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

So now does this go the other way too? Do I do it for you? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

I definitely don't have a sense of adventure. Or a sense of time. Not funny, so common sense. It's the only thing I got on.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Ding, ding, ding, that's what I wrote down.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Was it?

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Was that what you're gonna say?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, no, it's definitely.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

What were you gonna say? That was it.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

We won.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

What were you gonna say?

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Even though there's no other couples here.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Was that really what you're gonna say?

SPEAKER_01 19:02

No, I was gonna say sense of time.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Terrible. I'm always late. Late to everything. So I'm always like, I can do one more thing before I leave. And then I'm like, dang, I'm late now.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Right, but you always you're like, you know what time it is. You know that you're late. Like you're and you're always trying to rush to get like things going and done in there. So that's why I said that. But it's right, we lost that one. We only got one one point.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Generally I'm one makes us lose. Alright, next one is uh white lead manufacturer.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

White lead? Dishes and stuff? Paint. Well yeah, yes, those are dishes, but yeah, let's cover the things we eat off of in lead. Cool.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

For many years, factories employed workers to make white lead paint. A bright but dangerous pigment used on walls and furniture. Handling this toxic material was common, even though it posed serious health risks. The 19th and 20th centuries saw white lead paint churned out on a massive scale, with countless laborers breathing in in poisonous dust and working in hazardous conditions with little protection. There were few safety measures, so many of the workers became seriously ill or died early because of their exposure to white lead, all to produce brighter paint.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Yeah, that's a terrible thing, like to die for. I died so that this paint could be whiter than white. Yeah. It's awful.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Next is a gold beater. You heard of this? No. What do you think they do?

SPEAKER_01 20:25

A gold beater? So kind of like panning for gold, like they're shh, no? Hitting women who are gold diggers.

unknown 20:35

No.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Just hitting gold.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Oh, just flattening it out.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Kind of like paper thin stuff.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Yeah, gold. That's one of the things about gold, yeah. It's just like super thin. Like I bought gold from that gold mine museum. Remember that? And it's like flakes of gold, but like it pounded down to because I only paid like 50 bucks for it or something. And so there's like lots of gold in there. But really, it is so thin, like it is basically transparent. Yeah. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Gold beaters hammered pure gold into very thin leaves, used to decorate items like picture frames and palace domes. The work required patent strength and attention to detail. Gold beating was done in the US, but it was especially common in European cities. In the 19th century, Schwab, Germany, about 70% of the people worked in gold leaf production, making the town known for this craft. 70% of people were beating gold?

unknown 21:29

That's a lot.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Today gold beating is rare, but a few dedicated artisans, such as Marino Mengazzo in Venice, continued the tradition in the city's old workshops. That'd be kind of cool to see.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Yeah, go watch them do it.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Yeah. Next is human computers. Before modern computers, people called human computers. Did they actually call them human computers? Before computers were like even a word?

SPEAKER_01 21:54

I think so. Well, I think computers come from this terminology.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Oh. Human computers made scientific progress using. Using only pencil, paper, and their intelligence. This room is like all women.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Yeah, well that's like what's that movie with like the women who like NASA, right? Like made it to the moon and stuff, like because of the women. I think they were also black too.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Like I think they were I was thinking because of the war or something that it was only women doing stuff.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Like doing all these uh trajectory calculations and stuff. And like didn't get any recognition or weren't really paid or like anything.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

But right, and I think they had like advanced math degrees.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Oh really?

SPEAKER_01 22:35

But because they were black, women like didn't get much for their troubles.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

I didn't know the pretty sure.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

I'm pretty and there's a movie about it, I'm pretty sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

That's interesting. July 2nd is National Wildland Firefighter and I forgot day.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

July 2nd, I learned this today. July 2nd is also when the founding fathers voted to do independence or not.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Oh really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

And so lots of people consider that to be Independence Day, not July 4th.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

That makes sense. That's probably actually true.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Yeah, apparently John Adams was a big uh proponent of having July 2nd. I think it was John Adams.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

So why did they do July 4th and stuff?

SPEAKER_01 23:14

That's when they actually signed the paper. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

So I guess it makes sense that it's the fourth, though. If that's when it was actually signed.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Right, that's when it was signed, but it was decided. The official vote happened on the case.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Yeah, but like when you buy a house, the house isn't yours until you sign. Sure. Even though you decided to buy it.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Even though you and I voted.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Voted to buy it. Alright. Next is clockkeepers. Clockkeepers climbed into bell towers at dawn to wind, adjust, and repair the machinery. That kept time for the town. They needed a good sense of time and practical math skills to keep everything running smoothly.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

That'd be kind of a cool job. Yeah. See the inside, inner workings of a giant clock tower.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Yeah, to fix it or whatever. The next one is lectors. What do you think that job is?

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Lectors. They counted votes.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

In cigar factories, electors read novels, newspaper, and political text to workers as they rolled tobacco.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

Why?

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Their readings brought information and entertainment, encouraging discussion among workers until radios eventually is re eventually replaced them. I think this is such a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Deaf people just stand up in front of workers and spout information.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

Well they're yeah, they're like on a little elevated platform. They sit there and just read. You're at work doing something monotonous and someone's reading you a book, reading you something. Now you've actually learned something and not just done your monotonous job all day.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Yeah. What if I don't have a monotonous job and have to be continually engaged?

SPEAKER_00 24:40

You couldn't do that. Yeah. But someone that does manufacturing. Yeah, I guess rolling tobacco. That's gotta be mind-numbingly boring to just roll tobacco all day. At least like someone's teaching you something. Yeah. I think it's a cool idea. Yeah. For some jobs. Not all, obviously. Sure. Can't do it as a doctor. Right. Or your job. All right. Next is aircraft listener.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Like a horse whisperer. Just like I just imagine like hands up against the airplane and they're like leaning against it. What do you need? You need your oil changed.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Look at the picture.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

What is that? That looks dangerous. The one on the left, like that looks like radio waves are like coming in and then just being like being zeroed in on this guy's head. It's like catching all the radioactivity and funneling it into his head. So this is like them listening for airplanes like during the war to see if they could before radar.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Aircraft listeners use large acoustic mirrors or horns to try to hear enemy planes from a distance. Their careful listening was important during wartime, but this job disappeared once radar was invented. Well, who the heck wants to wear this on your ears all day? On your head.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Yeah, that's pretty crazy. It's like giant mechanical funnels to your head. I wonder what the stuff they could hear, though. Now I'm a little bit curious. I want to there needs to be a museum that has this, and you can go put your head in there. Yeah and then see like what can you actually hear?

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Next is a rat collector.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Look at his hall. Whoa. Those are some big rats, too.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

That's like up to his knee. That is right?

SPEAKER_00 26:14

That's yucky. Yep. Probably from his foot to his knee.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Yeah. I mean, there people are maybe shorter back then, but even still, that's like a 18-inch long rat.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Yeah, his boots are up to his knees too.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

Yeah. I I would too if I had two foot rats running around.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

When rats were common in alleys and cellars, rat catchers walked city streets with traps and dogs hunting the rodents that threatened public health.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

Yeah, the Black Plague.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Yep. During the Black Plague.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

There it is.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

Rat catchers helped protect neighborhoods from disease outbreaks and kept food supplies safe from pests. Even today, cities like New York have specialized rat hunters and their dogs to track infestations, and officials have a rat czar to address ongoing rodent problems. Huh. Well, I think you need to work harder because I feel like New York has a serious rat problem.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Really? When was the last time you were in New York? Never. You don't know. I don't. Forget about it. You don't know.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

I have no desire to go there either. All right.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Just because New York is full of snolly gaggers.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

There I used it.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

It's the only reason you don't want to go to New York. Because of the snarly gaggers.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

Good job using that word. That was a rough one.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

That is not that has to not be what the word is. Snolly gaggers.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Snolly.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

It doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

It doesn't. It was close enough.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Next is a river rat.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

A river rat? And what was that one? A rat?

SPEAKER_00 27:38

Rat hunter.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

A rat collector. A lot of rat stuff going on.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

The river rat. A nickname for people who lived and worked along rivers, especially those who earned a living by navigating, maintaining, or collecting items from the waterways. Next is Dunny Men or Gong Farmers. Ready for this?

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Dunny men?

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Yeah. You gotta look at the picture and then tell me what you think they do.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Oh, I feel like I should know if I look at the picture, but I I don't have no idea what this gentleman does. It's like a one-man band situation going on. What's around his neck?

SPEAKER_00 28:11

It looks like a kind of like a life preserver.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Yeah. And there are like clocks and watches. Are those like gauges? Like for pressure things? Yeah. And he has a lantern.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

I think it's like an early gas mask. Oh. And that's like maybe the oxygen, the the life preserver thing around his neck. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Is this a dunny man?

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Dunny man or gong farmer. G-O-N-G gong.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Uh they go into I don't know. I have no idea what this gentleman does. He looks like a street performer.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

You're not gonna want his job. Collected and removed city waste at night, working in dirty and unpleasant conditions to keep communities clean before modern sewers existed.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Wait a minute. What does he mean? Collecting and removing city waste. What does that like people like with a shh?

unknown 29:03

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Like like what? They just dump it out the window and this guy's gotta go around and remember how they used to have just like crap running through the streets? I vaguely remember something about that from like world history.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

But I don't know if that's what he did or when this job existed. But he was a poop. New York had a poop collector.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Yeah, well that's kind of what I was getting at. Is like m when I go scoop the dog's business in the yard. Is that what this gentleman does for humans? Seems like we have enough homeless people now that we need to bring this job back.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

That's probably true. Maybe like they clean out the outhouses. I don't know. Didn't we look it up? No. Their work was essential even if it was not appreciated. Although jobs like leech collectors and lamp lighters are gone, their legacy remains in our language, cities, and memories. When you turn on a light or watch a movie, remember the people whose work is now part of history. Their forgotten trades show that progress is built by many people, each leaving a lasting impact. Would you rather, Kevin? Okay, here we go. Would you rather have skin that changes color based on your emotions?

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Oh, like a mood ring? Yeah. Like I'm a human mood ring. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Or tattoos appear all over your body depicting what you did yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

That'd be some boring tattoos. Just tattoos of computers all over me. Color changes. Like I kind of already have that. When I get mad, my face turns red, I'm scared, it turns white. So I'll go with that one because I feel like I'm already partly there.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

I'll go with that one because my face doesn't generally hide my emotions. Yeah, you it doesn't. So just be on my skin doing it, not just my face.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

You wear your emotions on your sleeve, anyways, as they say, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Well, I wear them all over my face. Can't hide how I'm feeling.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Alright, I got laughing for you. Oh, you do? Laffy Tappy. Yep. Why was the cat afraid of the tree? This is not so easy, is it, on the other side?

SPEAKER_00 30:56

Oh no, I'm never good at these. I don't know. Because it's a scaredy cat.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Well, all cats are scaredy cats. Especially it was afraid of its bark.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

That was a good one. All right, remember, even a small act of kindness can be someone's beacon in their darkest moment. Choose kindness every day. Reach out to someone today. You have the power to change a life. Be the signal of hope this world needs.