Should we really be surprised to see that many households are struggling to reach both ends? Quebecers who combine two jobs to keep the head out of the water tell their reality.
The employee of a car dealer puts on his referee habit every week for 32 years, which has contributed to realizing his dream of touring the United States baseball and football stadiums.
Hugues Fournier is a commissioner at Rimouski Toyota where he has been working on the day for 17 years.
But on evenings and weekends, you will come across it as a referee on baseball fields, dek hockey areas and ice cream between Quebec and Gaspé.
Currently, he lives with a respectable salary of around $ 45,000 and more per year in the automotive industry.
However, he admits that the situation has not always been so rosy.
When he began, at 19, to agree to be embedded on the ice in Bas-Saint-Laurent, his salary as a referee allowed him to complete the end of the month.
Same thing when he occupied his first less chargeable jobs. He was very happy to have this extra income.
This is why Mr. Fournier agreed to deliver his testimony to Journal.
“There is nothing wrong with doing two jobs. Even less to support his needs. And it’s not over in the world we live, ”he insists.
$ 1000 per month
At 51, Hugues Fournier continues his referee’s work because he made very good friends in the field and his passion allows him to accumulate a little money for his leisure.
With the ten hours it does on average, Hugues Fournier can emerge about $ 1,000 per month.
Once the invoices are paid – and he specifies that they are always higher – the father, who lives alone, provides with his friends sports trips.
Hugues Fournier in front of the Rocky Balboa statue during a visit to the Philadelphia Art Museum during a sports trip this summer.
Photo provided by Hugues Fournier
Last July, he went to see the dishes and the Yankees in New York as well as the Philadelphia Phillies.
Until now, he has visited ten amphitheatres, mainly in the east of the United States.
“These trips, I can make them because I am used to doing a lot of working hours. Have a side-lineit also gives good values, I think. ”
It costs expensive
By discussing with colleagues and looking at what is happening in the arenas of Quebec, the referee notes that more and more people are a second work.
“Before, you won around $ 100,000, you were almost rich. Today, we see parents, teachers, plumbers, bosses having a side-line To pay their child’s hockey year. This is reality, ”he says.
He recalls that with registration, equipment and tournaments, a hockey season in the elite can cost $ 10,000 and more.
In addition, with the cost of living that has exploded, some referees tear the available matches, even if the referees who exercise this difficult job do so by passion.
“We see that tournaments are more popular because you make several games in one or two days and it’s more for a fee,” he notes.
On a personal level, he questions himself about his 15 -year -old son, who will one day have to stay and make his life.
“How are young people going to buy a first house?” he asks.
