One of the many venerable professions which has been rendered obsolete by advances in technology is that of "token sucking." The craft of token sucking originated in the subways of major cities where passage to the trains was obtained by depositing a coin-shaped metal token into a slot in a turnstyle. A TS ("token sucker") would stuff paper into the slot so that a token deposited by a rider would not pass into the guts of the machine. After the frustrated rider would move onto a different turnstyle, the TS would clamp his mouth on the slot and suck the token out. On busy days, a dedicated TS could make a decent amount of change, especially when tokens were as much as $1.50 apiece.
Frustrated transit employees would try to thwart the practice by pouring chili powder or mace on the turnstyle slots. A TS plying his trade was also subject to arrest for fraud against the transit authority. Because a TS would be putting his lips on an object which thousands of persons a day would be touching with germ-laden hands, you would think that being a TS would put one in the prime of health due to the immunities one would have to be developing. Unfortunately, the opposite was usually the case.
Because of the extensive exposure to the sordid side of microbes, token sucking was perhaps the second-skankiest occupation in New York. The skankiest of all was probably that of the poor cop who had to wait around to collect a token as evidence whenever a TS would swallow one upon being arrested.
For additional information on the demise of the grand art of token sucking, please check out the New York Times article here.
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