Motorcycle taxi: You ride on a motorcycle instead of sitting in a cab. It appeared in china in early 1990s, and disappeared around five years ago because of government ban. Motorcycle taxi was very popular because: 1) It is very cheap. The price is no more than 10 yuan (correspondingly 1.5 dollar) 2) It is…
People’s Commune
People’s commune is a kitchen where everything was shared. People cook here, dine here, and share all cooking ware. From 1958 to 1962 in China, it was a time called Great Leap Forward. That was a time when China wanted to chase United States and Soviet Union’s developing pace, so it came up with a few…
Doorman
Doorman, this job has not disappeared yet. Maybe you live in an apartment, which has a doorman at the lobby. He receives packages, checks in with strangers, or even helps you move your luggage when you have too much for you. However, it is not necessary for every apartment to have a doorman in it….
Breaker Boy
A breaker boy was a coal-mining worker whose job was to separate impurities from the coal. The coal that had impurities could not go to market and would be left in the mine as a waste. Break boys would pick slate, rock and other debris from coal by hand. Until 1900, the coal breaking had…
Coffin Man
“Death may be the termination of a life, but it’s not the end of humanity.” —Departures This is a line from the movie, Departures. I watched it many years ago; the leading character…
Newsstand Operator
Yes, this job is still around. However, the concept has changed. You see a newsstand it in the subway station. It is a vender where you can buy gummies, candies, lastly, newspapers. It may be a little incorrect to call that vender newsstand. In the past, you bought newspaper and other various magazines at newsstand….
Rag-and-Bone Man
My best friend Lisbeth and I sometimes call each other buckey, bittiebot or totters. Little did I know a totter was someone who collected trash and sold it for cash! Too funny. A rag-and-bone man, or totter, was usually a job performed on foot with the scavenged materials (which included rags, bones and various metals) kept in…
Gong-Farmer
Gong-farmer was a profession dating back to 15th century England. A gong farmer’s job was to remove human excrement from the outhouse outside of their home. Some castles had dedicated “latrine towers” and gong-farmers would have to brave the depths of these towers to empty them from time to time. Larger towns and cities would often feature public latrines as well, but…
Street Sweeper
A street sweeper was a common profession for someone who cleaned streets. Machines were created in the 19th century to do the job of street sweeping. Today, modern street sweepers are mounted behind a truck and can vacuum debris that accumulates in streets. Street sweepers have been employed in cities since sanitation and waste removal became a priority. A street-sweeping person…
Flatulist
Professional Flatulists (farters) have been around for a long time. There is a scroll from Japan’s Kamakura era (1185 to 1333), called The King of Farts, about a performer who danced fart dances for the aristocracy. The farting performers were called “heppiri otoko,” meaning “farting men”. There are fart jokes in Shakespeare and also in St. Augustine’s…
Video Store Clerk
Once upon a time, a busy video store wouldn’t have seemed so peculiar – after all, there were nearly 30,000 of them in the United States circa 1989. By 2014 hat number had dwindled to barely 6,000. in 2010 and 2013 some of the largest video store chains began shutting their doors following years of struggles, acquisitions…
Bus Conductor
Bus conductors were a common feature in UK until the late 1970s. In those times, double-deckers buses were used as main urban transit services. The special bus design determined the need of a two-person crew (driver and conductor) to run a bus-running service. The entrance door was at the rear end of the bus,…
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