You want to know what is taking middle class jobs?

[WillowTree]

58. If people didn't have a preference for shopping online, online selling wouldn't be taking over.

Not everyone, of course, but lots of people anymore don't have the time or inclination to drive somewhere and park and walk around looking for what they need and stand in line to pay and then haul their stuff home. Many, if not most people anymore are sufficiently well informed that they are able to research most of what they need on their own and don't need (or want) as much guidance from someone whose primary interest is his or her commission. It isn't about people "hating the middle class", it's just time marching inevitably on.

It's just the way it is. People didn't decline to buy one of those new-fangled horseless carriages to save the blacksmith's job or get a refrigerator because they were worried about how the iceman would support himself. Time marches on, technology moves forward and the workplace, and therefore the workers, must to adapt to keep up. When the thing that occupied my time for almost 20 years started to be computerized, I realized that, while there will still be need for some people to do the job at a terminal, there would be a lot fewer of those jobs, so I leveraged my knowledge of the job and the business and learned about the machines and now I'm still in the same industry, but working the IT end of it. And one day, they'll manage to mechanize what I'm doing now, too, but at my age, that's not likely to happen before I retire.

Retail sales is never going to be a growth career again. It's unfortunate that it's caught up with you at an age when it's more difficult to make a switch. More difficult, but not impossible. You'll need to be creative and flexible and, perhaps, reach out to some of the many contacts that you must have developed over the years and, hopefully, something will break for you.

Much good luck.