[cmlars]

I worked at a salmon cannery in Alaska for a summer. On the canning line there was the patch station, staffed by “patch girls.” Open cans, freshly filled with fish, would come down the line to each station at about 70 per minute. They were automatically weighed. If they were too heavy or too light you’d “patch” them with extra fish to bring them on par.

This station was very fast paced, precise, and very stressful. And had a small pay increase to account for what a demanding position it was.

The role was open to anyone but when I was there it was all women (and usually was). I was told it was because they most often had the ability to stay calm in the never ending onslaught of cans and still do precise work for hours on end.

I (as a man) worked on at this station for a few days, but couldn’t handle it. It was bonkers hard and those women were beyond impressive.