I thought I knew a lot about early trades, but never heard of this one. Is this some guy who has to cut and bend up the legs of staples, like you use for binding sheets of paper?

As far as jobs that are hard to believe weren't automated pretty early- sure, plenty of them. Cigar-rolling immediately comes to mind, a job so dull the rollers would hire a guy to sit and read books to them. But the most glaring example would be domestic chores. Clothes washing was commonly done by hand, with scrub-boards and pots of boiling water, well into the 20th century. For people re-enacting everyday life in the 18th or 19th centuries, it's one of the most boring and annoying tasks- washing for a large family takes all day. That it was done by hand for so long was, obviously, because it was done by women. It's notable that the first actual powered washing machines were those of the Shakers, who gave women an equal voice in their communities.

The first dishwasher was likewise invented by a woman.