Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Does the postman always rings twice? #job

My favorite extinct job is a #palingpeurer (english #eelbob). Question: What is your favorite(s)?
 
Postman always rings twice! Always? In The Netherlands #postman are this and next week on strike. It's a profession threatened with extinction. Why? All of us hardly send snailmail anymore. No handwritten letters. No postcards from abroad. No packages with food, cloths or ... - there must be more. The delivery of items is reducing quickly.

Are you frozen on your job? Do you hate the way your boss organises your company? Does no one ever listen to your "free" advices to get the work better - much better - organised? Looking around again for another job, boss or Way things Finally get Properly organised?

Remember this. There is not 1 way of organising. There are many. How to organise depends on the organisational configurations, the life cycle of the organisation and the environment it lives in.

Remember this. Jobs come and go. When we look back in history we find out that jobs are like a river. The exact definition on what to do (and don't) is never the same. Never! Water floats and floats. The #postman of today is not the same as the postman 50, 100 or 200 years ago. The #farmer of today is not the same as the farmer 50, 100, 500,1.000 or  10.000 years ago. 
I love to puzzle and wonder on jobs that got extinct. A little list of extinct jobs in The Netherlands:
This is a list of not extinct jobs. It's a list of romantic remnants: #shepherd #clog (dutch klompenmaker) #windmiller #king. Yes a #king.

4 comments:

  1. I feel very sorry that the original (English type) housekeeper doesn't exist anymore, does she? Or is it just unaffordable? Would be wonderful to have someone to take care of the household, while you do other things like reading books, chatting over a cup of tea, looking out over the green lawn. This housekeeper will of course make the beds, lay out cloths, cook, clean and iron and make the cup of tea..sigh

    Most romantic job, but extinct in Holland, for me is cowboy. Would love to be one (see pic) Wandering around on a horse while watching the cattle and making big campfires..

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  2. Thanks Pauline. #housekeeper it's lack of money. In the past people were happy to have room, shelter and something to eat. These days only the rich can afford a housekeeper, gardner and personal assistent.
    Ever read?
    (1) Ileen Montijn/ Leven op stand 1890-1940 (1998).
    (2) Mark Girouard/ Life in the English country house; a social & architectural history. Such a lovely book. He wrote too 'French country house'.

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  3. We are all ever evolving and changing -

    Your comment about the postman is funny... I was in the Art Gallery a couple of days ago looking at a painting of an old Cypriot peasant woman reading a letter, and on the card on the wall "For Children" it 'explained' how before telephones and emails people actually had to write to each other to convey news!

    My children were told as they entered High School that the job they may be doing when they left school hadn't at that point in time been 'invented' because ways of doing things were evolving so fast there would be jobs out there in 5 years time that simply didn't exist today.

    We live in a fast paced world that only seems to get faster ;)

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  4. Lovely comment Linda. Yes we are living in a fast world.

    At the same time needs/ sinn/ vices/ behavior seems (for me) the same for our species: fear for unkown/ future/ others; vanity; lust; jealousy; greed; revenge; laziness; need for food; need to be a good fit. In my opinion there always will be jobs like: #priest #teacher #consultant #banker #insurance #hooker #boost_body-soul #assassin #(virtual)assistent #foodproducer

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