Soda jerk

Contrary to what you may initially think, a soda jerk is not a jerk who enjoys soda, though the phrase does not necessarily exclude such an individual. In truth, a soda jerk is someone who works at an eatery who pours soda drinks for customers. The term is considered an old form vocation and is no longer applied in modern contexts. Soda jerks could usually be found in films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

Shemp Howard of The Three Stooges fame, played a soda jerk in the 1941 comedy, Hold That Ghost.