'You can hear your body scream for rest,' say overworked Canadians struggling to beat inflation
CBC
This is Part 4 of The Grind, a series from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador on people who are working multiple jobs to offset the rising cost of living.
Rebecca Gladney settles down on a stool beside her massage table, lit by overhead fluorescent lights in a St. John's room not much bigger than a closet.
For once, she has an hour to spare.
When the CBC camera leaves, she'll set up for her next client, rearranging her office so she can perform the therapy that, for the last two years, has kept her afloat.
She's in a collared shirt, buttoned up and tucked in. But underneath the veneer of professionalism, she's barely holding it together.
"I'm so tired. All the time," she said.
She described her commute from her full-time desk job in telecommunications to this small room, her second workspace. Working 9 to 5 in one office, she comes here, where she spends an additional 30 hours every week. She works nights and weekend in her other job.
It's long after supper on a chilly November evening. Across town from where Gladney is earning extra cash to pay her bills, Rafid Khan has his nose buried in books.
He's just come from his full-time job with a non-profit organization, where he helps new Canadians settle into the rhythm of life in a new country.
Khan is also a full-time student, and his life is planned down to the minute.
When he's not studying — usually until well past midnight — he's at a second job at a car rental company at St. John's International Airport, where he'll often work until the small hours of the morning.
On those days, he might squeeze in three hours of sleep.
"You can just hear your body scream for more rest," Khan said.
Gladney and Khan are among a growing number of Canadians who have to work a second job to tackle the increasing cost of living. According to a Statistics Canada report released in 2022, the proportion of workers in Canada who held more than one job was about 2.5 times the number recorded in 1976.
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