[afraidfortherepublic]

Am I the last ‘professional’ elevator operator standing? I earned money for my college expenses operating the elevator for J. C. Penney. The bank of elevators eventually was replaced by an escalator and then the store was closed.

[miss marmelstein]

I had a friend who was an heir to the Otis Elevator fortune! I’ve since lost touch. I love a good elevator.

[shove_it]

Am I the last ‘professional’ elevator operator standing?

Sir, thank you for your service. As a kid I marveled at the skill of the elevator operators in Detroit's skyscrapers, zooming up and down, matching the floor level of the elevator to the building's floor with a single adjustment. And those snappy uniforms - my dream job. Then they automated the elevators and took all the glamor out of it. Bummer.

[ErnBatavia]

I used to have to deliver documents to an upstairs department at a downtown bank......there were two man-operated elevators.

The operators were identical twin brothers, who always dressed alike -- I regularly saw many doubletakes from newbies to the bank.

[KarlInOhio]

A warehouse overstock store I shop at occasionally still had an elevator operator when I went there last year. I have no idea how that old freight elevator to the electronics department on the third floor passed inspection.

[Bigg Red]

Am I the last ‘professional’ elevator operator standing?

***
You triggered a flood of memories for me. In the 1950s, I was a little girl growing up in the suburbs of Baltimore. When my mother wanted to shop in a big store, she rode a bus into Baltimore.

Such an adventure for me. I learned years later that, of her 9 children, I was the one she had the least bit of trouble with on such trips. I remember sitting on the bus mesmerized by the beautiful downtown architecture, some of which is still there.

Riding an elevator was a thrill for me, as there were no elevators in my little suburban world. And I envied the elevator operator. She wore a uniform of some sort — I remember khaki and some brown tones — and she got to push the buttons and announce each floor and what it had to offer.

Sorry. Did not mean to highjack this thread....

[TaxPayer2000]

The last elevator operator I saw was running an elevator at the California State Capitol Building in Sacramento during the Arnold years..

[shove_it]

Technology brings end to elevator operators’ ride ...

Sandra Buie, 72, is all smiles as she greets a rider in her elevator in the 1st Bank Building in South Bend, Ind. First Source Bank, which owns the building, recently said goodbye to Buie and the building's other remaining elevator operator. By all accounts, the two were the last elevator operators still working in the city, and possibly the entire state.

http://www.news-journal.com/news/nation/technology-brings-end-to-elevator-operators-ride/article_3766eff0-3915-56a0-817f-833e27ee9dab.html

Oct 2012 article.

[HarleyD]

Am I the last ‘professional’ elevator operator standing?

My wife and I was actually in an elevator two years ago that had an elevator operator. It was very old and had one of those scissor doors. The control was a sliding lever with "up" and "down". On our way down the operator remarked how while the elevator was very old it was still in great shape. I quipped that I hoped that went for the cables as well.

[catnipman]

“Am I the last ‘professional’ elevator operator standing? I earned money for my college expenses operating the elevator for J. C. Penney. The bank of elevators eventually was replaced by an escalator and then the store was closed.”

I’m sure there’s a direct cause and effect chain of events here, correct? :)