Finding a job has always required a particular set of skills, but some historical résumés must have been incredibly specific. Before alarms, refrigerators, automated machinery, and modern communications took over everyday tasks, actual people had to perform jobs that now sound almost invented. Someone might spend the morning waking strangers by tapping on their windows, while another worker could spend an entire shift making sure bowling pins were standing upright. Most of these occupations disappeared because technology found a faster way to accomplish the same tiny task, although a few simply vanished as society changed around them. Here are 15 extremely specific jobs that somehow used to be normal.©RedditKnocker-UppersBefore alarm clocks became affordable and reliable, some workers were paid to wake people for work. Knocker-uppers tapped on bedroom windows with long sticks until their customers finally got up.©RedditBowling Alley PinsettersBowling pins did not always reset themselves after every turn. Pinsetters, often teenage boys, worked behind the lanes manually collecting and arranging them for the next bowler.©RedditElevator OperatorsElevators once needed an employee to control the car and stop it at the correct floors. Automatic controls eventually turned a surprisingly common job into something most people only see in old movies.©RedditLamplightersCities once employed people to walk the streets lighting gas lamps every evening. They returned in the morning to extinguish them, repeating the route again the following night.©RedditIce CuttersBefore electric refrigeration, workers harvested enormous blocks of ice from frozen lakes and rivers. The ice was stored and later delivered so households could keep food cold.©Wikimedia CommonsLeech CollectorsMedical demand for leeches once created an occupation devoted entirely to gathering them. Some collectors even used their own legs to attract the bloodsucking creatures before selling them.©RedditHuman ComputersLong before electronic computers, organizations hired people to perform complicated calculations by hand. These “human computers” worked through enormous amounts of mathematical data using little more than paper and pencils.©RedditMovie Theater UshersMovie theaters once employed armies of uniformed ushers to guide people to their seats with flashlights. Multiplexes and changing theater operations eventually made the highly formal job far less common.©RedditStreet SweepersBefore mechanized street-cleaning vehicles became widespread, workers cleaned city streets manually with large brooms. Entire crews could spend their days sweeping dirt and debris from busy roads.©RedditTelegraph MessengersTelegram offices employed messengers whose entire job was delivering short written communications around town. The arrival of telephones gradually made urgent messages much easier to send directly.©RedditSwitchboard OperatorsTelephone calls once required a human being to physically connect one line to another. Operators spent their shifts plugging cables into enormous switchboards to connect callers.©RedditLog DriversThe timber industry needed workers to guide huge collections of logs down rivers toward sawmills. Log drivers balanced on the floating timber while preventing dangerous jams along the route.©RedditTown CriersBefore newspapers and instant communication, important announcements sometimes depended on someone loudly delivering them in public. Town criers walked through populated areas calling out news and official proclamations.©RedditGong FarmersMedieval and early modern cities had workers responsible for removing human waste from privies and cesspits. Gong farmers usually worked at night, when their extremely unpleasant cargo caused less disruption.©RedditAircraft ListenersBefore radar, militaries experimented with enormous acoustic devices designed to detect approaching aircraft by sound. Specialized listeners monitored the equipment and tried to identify distant engines before planes became visible.The post 15 Extremely Specific Jobs That Somehow Used to Be Normal appeared first on Den of Geek.