The allure of working on a lake in the mountains in British Columbia wore off quickly for 21-year-old Issac Girardin from Mont-Laurier, Quebec.
After two weeks of picking cherries in Naramata, he realized he鈥檇 rather be spending his summer as a roofer in Manitoba.
鈥淚 would love to live here, but I don鈥檛 think I would like to work in cherries again if I came back here,鈥 Girardin said, as he was hitchhiking back east.
Before heading out west, Girardin went to trades school to learn about becoming a carpenter or electrician. He realized that picking cherries wouldn鈥檛 be as technical or challenging as the trades, but he wanted to see the beauty of B.C., and was willing to hustle to earn some good money.
Twelve-hour shifts started at 11 p.m., so he had to get his sleep during daylight.
鈥淚n my head it was not going to be like that鈥攕leeping the days, waking up at 10 p.m. going back to cherry picking.鈥
Girardin thought it would be easy to make friends, but said most of his co-workers went to work on uppers, and didn鈥檛 do much more than eat and sleep in their free time.
鈥淢ost of the men are really f--king high, like on cocaine or speed. Listening to music and shit they don鈥檛 give a shit. Just trying to make quota.鈥
He said he would have put up with the demanding labour if it offered competitive wages.
鈥淏ut everybody trying to work there,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 have to raise up the pay because there鈥檚 always going to be somebody who鈥檚 going to take your place.鈥
According to the B.C. government, the minimum wage for cherry pickers is $0.698/kilogram.
The amount of work it takes to pick 20 pounds of cherries to make $105 鈥渋s crazy.鈥
After realizing the social scene and the wages are both lousy, Girardin decided two weeks was enough.
鈥淣o social life and the pay is f--king bad 鈥攚hat鈥檚 the point?鈥
So he鈥檚 leaving B.C. to work in Manitoba as a roofer, and expects full-time hours to provide him with bi-weekly paycheques of at least $1,500, maybe $2,000.