I was a high school student with a full-time job. My financial goal came at a cost

This First Person column is the experience of Bryle Hector Socito, who lives in Calgary. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ. This story is part of Welcome to Canada, a CBC News series about immigration told through the eyes of the people who have experienced it.

I sat in the front row of my high school English class in Calgary but I didn't see the teacher. Instead, I had my eyes closed and was dreaming of of jet skiing.

The water splashed my smiling face. Then a wave pushed me into the water and I swam hard to stay afloat. I kicked a classmate's leg and jerked awake.

This wasn't the first time I fell asleep in class after starting to work in the local supermarket. Between school, my job and doing homework, I sometimes had just two hours of sleep the night before.  

Work has always been a source of pride and independence for me. I grew up in the Philippines and my family had little money. When I was in elementary school, I was envious seeing my classmates eat their well-prepared lunch boxes while I had only a five peso coin (about 12 cents Cdn) – enough for one cup of arroz caldo (rice broth).

At that time, it was my responsibility to take the family trash to the dump on the side of the highway. It smelled like a dead rat and was a disgusting job. But one night, my neighbour asked me to take her garbage as well and then paid me for it. It opened my eyes.

Soon my cousins joined me and we would spend our nights together sharing stories, picking up garbage from multiple neighbours and making up to 100 pesos ($2.50 Cdn) per night.

We spent the money on food, toys and playing shooting games at the computer cafe, and were very proud of ourselves. 

Eventually, I moved on from that dirty, messy work and started making money playing GraalOnline Era instead. That's an online game where you can trade and make profit. 

You're not supposed to use real money but it's possible if you post what you've collected on external fan pages and wait for someone to express interest. I was scammed once, but still earned enough to pay for my own lunch, bus money and school supplies. I was even able to help my mom with our bills.

But then everything changed when I was 16 years old. My family got approved to come to Canada and when we arrived, I busied myself trying to understand high school and assimilate into Canadian culture. 

A few months later, I noticed some of my friends were not heading home after classes. When I asked why, they told me about their after-school jobs and one of them helped me get me a job at a Filipino grocery and restaurant scrubbing dishes — full-time hours, working from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. every weeknight.

My parents didn't like this idea — my shift left little time for homework. But I promised my grades wouldn't suffer. I wanted my independence and to help out my parents with the finances. And when I got my first paycheque, it felt like a hundred bazillion times of what I had been earning from trading in the online game.

I bought new wireless earbuds and saved the rest of my paycheque for emergencies. Then, when my parents got COVID-19 and couldn't work, I was able to lend them money and help with necessities. I was proud and it was one of the happiest moments of my life.

But it was hard to keep going. I tried to finish school assignments after my shifts ended but I was getting as little as two hours of sleep each night.

I slept during first period class so I wouldn't be a zombie the rest of the day. As I fell behind, I even tried to use ChatGPT and QuillBot by copying and pasting the assignments, or paraphrasing essays from the Internet. But it didn't help. I was learning nothing. 

Then came the winter break. When we returned to class, I noticed several of my classmates were missing. I thought they were still on vacation but when I texted them, they said they wanted to focus on their job so they could become independent and move out on their own as soon as possible. 

That's when I realized I was in trouble, too. I dreamed of being financially independent, but did that mean I had to drop out of school?

I knew I only had one chance to make this decision. I researched online to compare future salaries if I continued with school or kept my dishwashing job. That convinced me.

At this point, my family moved houses and I had to quit my job at the Filipino market anyway. But instead of getting a new full-time position, I found a part-time weekend job at a Holiday Inn instead. 

Now that I have more time, I am completing my prerequisites to get into post-secondary school. I know that being financially stable is good, but developing a career I'll enjoy that can also pay my yearly expenses is much better than being stuck in a four-to-eleven minimum wage job.

Telling your story

This First Person piece came from a CBC Calgary writing workshop run in partnership Siobhan Kellar's English class with Calgary Catholic St. Anne Academic Centre.

To find out more about our writing workshops or to propose a community organization to host, email CBC producer Elise Stolte or visit cbc.ca/tellingyourstory. Read more personal stories from CBC Calgary writing workshops: