Dear LPG, 

My son was introduced to a card game with a difference recently.  There are questions on each card designed to get people talking.  One of the questions was, ‘What was your favourite job ever’ and that got me thinking.  

After just a few years of retirement, what I did for a living the last time I went to work is easy to recall but, the memory of what I actually used to do has sort of got lost.  Many of us forget that we nearly all did some really challenging jobs that, over the years since we were involved, have changed drastically. 

I was talking to a retired friend about this and her reaction as to the job she used to do is now automated.  It leaves her questioning if her life’s work was really worth it.  No one will ever do her job again because computers are the latest way that mankind has found to do a lot of the more repetitive jobs.  

But the sad thing is computerised machines are taking jobs away from so many people while a lot of the services that we older people are so used to being helped with have now turned into client self-service affairs and, the real fact of the matter is that while younger people are happy not to have to waste time talking to others, we oldies really appreciate that aspect of being a client.  It all started with things like the self-service petrol stations but over the years more and more of us are gradually being forced to do our own banking and buy our online shopping after seeing a recorded or written explanation of the details. So many factory workers have been replaced by computerised machines and, while a lot of those jobs were repetitive and boring to some extent, there was an element of satisfaction to be found in accomplishing them even if it was only because we interacted with other people doing the same job and had the opportunity to multitask.  A lot of good friendships were forged while workmates chatted.    

Another thing that computers are really good at is checking everything that workers do.  More than a few of my family members that still work for a living have told me that the working from home craze that lockdown forced on administrative workers was no walk in the park because, everything that a worker does on a computer is monitored much more closely than it would be in an ‘at work’ situation.  

All this has happened to everyone but we oldies have experienced how things were before all these changes happened and while I quite enjoy being able to do some things with a computer, at the moment we still have a bit of a choice as to how we shop, but for how long…

WV, Crofton Park

WV found a list of jobs that have been automated… 

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…and LPG adds some information on today’s celebration…

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