I haven’t worked in a “9 to 5” job in a long time. During my last four years, I’ve been trying to make it as an author, writing novels. It is a tall order, but at least I enjoy the work.
But many people still get up every day and punch the time clock. Yet. It seems as though our workplaces are getting a new face, slowly and surely.
Some occupations are disappearing. Completely. This isn’t really anything new. I mean, not so many years ago, there were several “filling station attendants” on every corner in America, pumping our gas. And how about the guys whose job it was to service, fix and repair public phones and phone booths? Gone. And forgotten.
Even still, long before the emergence of ChatGPT and other AI tools threatening to take over our jobs, technological advancements have altered the way people work. Robotics, for one. These things have made some occupations disappear while others have emerged.
Here is a nifty occupation many of us have never heard of. People used to work as living alarm clocks before actual alarm clocks became a thing. They were called “Knocker uppers” and would walk around in industrial England, tapping on workers’ doors with their long sticks to wake up the workers in time for their shifts.
We also used to have people called “computers.” Their jobs, long before the arrival of personal computers, were to perform mathematical calculations. Of course, that is a service that is no longer required today.
So which jobs might be next? Well, some of them are difficult to guess. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published a report last year projecting employment levels in 2031. They also gave projections about which jobs are most at risk from automation or other technological and societal shifts.
They say that cashiers are projected to see the most significant drop in employment, with 335,000 fewer jobs in 2031 than in 2021. This is due to the advancements in self-checkout.
Other jobs high on the list are secretaries, office clerks, and customer service representatives, with each of these occupations expected to see employment decline by more than 100,000 jobs until 2031.
The one that kind of irks me is the CSR. The customer service representative. I used to be one. The job certainly isn’t a bowl of cherries. But a necessary evil. However, these days, finding a company with good service representatives is a tall order. We recently switched cell phone carriers from Verizon to Consumer Cellular, mainly because Ted Danson promised us we would talk to real people who could understand us. And we, them. Well. When I dialed the Consumer Cellular phone number, sure enough. A real person answered on the second ring. I’ve only called them a couple of times since, but it pans out every time — a real person in just a few rings. What a concept. So. It is sad to see that the CSR is going to fall to even more automation and AI.
I can only say this. The internet held promise when first introduced as a tool to bring people together. And in some ways, it has. But for the most part, it seems to be widening the gap between human interaction. It will be interesting to watch what the future will bring. But Dolly Parton will be singing less and less of Nine to Five. I’d bet next week’s paycheck on it.
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The harder I work, the luckier I get.
— Samuel Goldwyn
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Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.
— Sam Ewing
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Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.
— Rumi
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Work it baby. Work it.
