These human alarm clocks woke people up by tapping on their windows with long poles.Their job was to taste the king’s food first, just in case someone had poisoned it.People once searched muddy riverbanks at low tide for anything valuable they could sell.This royal servant had the very personal job of helping the king in the bathroom.These workers collected dog droppings, which were then used to process leather.Before electronic computers, teams of people, many of them women, did complex calculations by hand.Cigar factories hired readers to read newspapers and novels aloud while workers rolled cigars.These workers waded into ponds and let leeches attach to their legs so they could be sold to doctors.Before home refrigerators, the iceman delivered big blocks of ice to keep food cold.In crowded old cities, catching rats was a steady and very necessary job.Every evening, lamplighters walked the streets lighting the gas lamps one by one.Before machines took over, bowling alleys hired young workers to reset the pins by hand.
