When I was a kid, most moms were tailors by necessity. Not always good ones. But most dads said, “He ripped it. He can wear it.”

Moms sighed, rummaged through their sewing boxes and went to work tailoring.

I think the patches craze of the 1960s was started by a mom who didn’t have matching material to fix a rip and instead used discarded accessories from Barbie and G.I. Joe as patches. Their teenage kids called the wild look groovy.

Many years later, a mom tired of sewing patches started the ripped jeans craze.

Between fads and our throwaway culture — if it doesn’t fit, throw it out and buy a new one — not only were moms no longer stuck mending and altering clothes, but professional tailors lost steam as well.

Every town used to have at least one tailor shop; now most towns have none.

And another once common job that once was now isn’t.

Back then, our sci-fi movies warned us that robots first would take over our jobs, then take over the world. But AI has defeated the robots, and now ChatGPT has taken charge.

Over the years, several economies’ worth of jobs have disappeared, occupations like milkman, elevator operator, pinsetter, film processor and video store clerk.

This isn’t all bad. I have never heard anyone bemoan the loss, for example, of leech collectors.

For thousands of years and into the 1800s, bloodletting by leeches was a common medical practice. If your doctor used leeches, someone had to collect them.

Leech collectors stood in creeks and rivers to collect leeches by letting the little suckers clamp onto their own legs.

It was a sad day when school guidance counselors administered aptitude tests and there was always that one student that scored “leech collector” as the most suited profession.

There also used to be toad doctors. In the 1600s, medical science believed in the healing power of toads. Dried powdered toads were applied to the ailing to relieve headaches, reduce inflammation and cure skin conditions.

A leech collector moonlighted as a toad collector for a little extra income.

Another job that’s vanished is knocker upper.

No, it doesn’t mean that. The knocker upper was the person whom people in the 1800s hired to bang on doors, tap on glass or toss peas or pebbles at windows to awaken them at specified times in the morning.

The invention of alarm clocks ruined that trade. The biggest advantage of alarm clocks is a snooze button that doesn’t hit back.

Bematist is another job that once was but now isn’t.

In ancient Greece, bematists were the guys who measured distances by counting steps. And you thought it was only pirate maps that gave directions like “16 paces west of the rock shaped like a turtle, turn left for 27 paces…”

In these modern times, of course, we now have gadgets in our cars which broadcast The Lady announcing directions such as “In 800 feet, take the second off-ramp on the right.”

Just like in the days of bematists, when you weren’t sure exactly how big “a step” measured, no one knows for sure how far 800 feet is. We either end up on the first off-ramp or we whiz right on past our turn while our passenger — usually a spouse — screams, “Turn! Turn! You just flew past it! Why can’t you ever slow down?”

Victorian London had its share of toshers — freelancers who broke into the sewers to search for coins, scraps of metal and other valuables. Who you gonna call when you drop your diamond ring down the grate? The tosher!

Other lost jobs include occupations such as typewriter mechanic, household coal bin delivery guy, ice delivery, food taster and court jester–once mainstays, now the stuff of history books.

The lesson, I suppose, is be grateful for the job you have because one day, leech collecting could come back into vogue, and you’ll find yourself up the creek with your pant legs rolled up.

Contact Cole at burton.w.cole@gmail.com, where he’s collecting odd jobs.