A new survey reveals what Georgians really miss from the working world before everything went digital — and it turns out full-service gas stations beat out every other lost profession.
What’s Happening: A survey of Americans age 45 and older asked which vanished jobs they miss most, and gas station attendants took the top spot in Georgia.
What’s Important: The results show Georgians are nostalgic for the human connections that came with everyday tasks — someone who cleaned your windshield, topped up your oil, and asked about your weekend while you waited.
Film developers came in second place, followed by video rental clerks. These workers saw your vacation photos before you did and recommended movies based on what they remembered about your taste — the original algorithm, but with better conversation.
Bowling alley pin-setters ranked fourth. Before machines took over, actual people dodged flying pins to reset them for minimum wage. Arcade attendants rounded out the top five as the guardians of coin slots and prize tickets.
The rest of Georgia’s top 10 includes toll booth collectors, VHS repair technicians, record store clerks, door-to-door encyclopedia salespeople, and paperboys.
The Bigger Picture: The survey comes as artificial intelligence threatens to automate jobs from copywriting to customer service. Every year, the U.S. Labor Department updates its list of professions that have officially vanished — jobs too small to count in monthly reports. Recent casualties include hardwood veneer makers and breakfast cereal manufacturers.
Resume.io, which conducted the survey, also asked about office memories. Thirty percent of Georgians said they remember the sound of typewriters most fondly. Twenty-six percent picked the smell of fresh photocopies, while 23% chose the Rolodex as the office item they remember best.
If they could bring back one retro office gadget for a week, 28% of respondents chose typewriters, 27% picked pagers, and 21% wanted overhead projectors back.
The 1980s won as the most-missed work era, with 42% of the vote. The decade of power ties, fax machines, and briefcases beat out the 1990s (23%), the 1950s (19%), and the 1970s (16%).
“There’s a comfort in remembering the small details of working life that used to define our days — the hum of a printer, the click of a keyboard, even the frustration of a fax machine,” said Amanda Augustine, resume.io’s career expert. “It’s a reminder that work wasn’t just about output; it was about atmosphere — something we risk losing as offices become quieter and more digital.”
When asked what modern workplace habits people will laugh at in 30 years, Zoom marathons topped the list at 31%, followed by asking AI to write meeting notes about AI at 22%.
