I wonder why there is so much less <em>service</em> in the world today.

That might sound like a strange question when by some estimates two-thirds of all jobs in our country are "service" related, but grilling hamburgers and working a cash register aren't what I mean.

When the movie "Back to the Future" came out in 1985, one of the biggest laughs for the Reagan-era audience was when Marty McFly found himself in 1955 and watched in awe as four or five guys ran out to start servicing a car that pulled into a gas station.

Check your oil? These days you can't even get them to pump your gas.

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I wonder why that is. I wonder why gas stations were able to have guys hanging around to pump gas, clean windshields and check oil and tire pressure at a time when gas was only 25-30 cents a gallon, and they don't even have anyone to pump gas that we're paying $3 a gallon to get.

It's the same in department stores. Try and find someone to help you find your size in something, and the odds are pretty good you'll have to wait in line while the one salesperson waits on two or three other people first.

In a way, I suppose it's just another way life has become more impersonal. But I think it's also a reason we have such incredibly high unemployment; all sorts of jobs have just vanished, never to return.

Remember when there used to be ushers in movie theaters?

This one probably makes a little more sense. A lot fewer people go to the movies these days than did 60 years ago, and there are far fewer of the old movie "palaces" and a lot more theaters where the screens are just glorified big-screen televisions.

[caption id="attachment_771" align="alignleft" width="244" caption="Service"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/movie_usher.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-771" title="movie_usher" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/movie_usher.jpg" alt="" width="244" height="250" /></a>[/caption]

It's funny. When I was younger, I was often annoyed when someone would come up to me in a store and ask if they could help me.

Heck, it made it a lot tougher to shoplift.

<em>Just kidding.</em>

<em>Right?</em>

Right.

But when I'm shopping with my wife, one of the first things she does is look for a salesperson to help her find what she wants. She's not just looking for the help; she also wants the opinion of the person on what to buy.

It's funny, but people used to have jobs like that for a long time. Some folks made careers out of being a salesperson in men's clothing stores, or working in record stores. That was before we bought all our music online, of course.

Eventually, I suppose, we'll buy everything online.

I'm just waiting to see how they can pump the gas for our cars through the computer.