Cathy Dobbs: Don't fall for the lazy girls' slacker ways

For those not in the know, social media has started to fill with young women bragging about how they have managed to get a job with a reasonable salary for not doing much.

It seems they lounge about at home sending the odd email, taking lots of breaks, making a call or two, and then clocking off when it suits them. And they have got millions of followers – other people desperate to find out how they can get a lazy girl job.

It looks like being furloughed during the pandemic appealed to too many people, who are now looking at how they can take life easy while still getting paid.

It makes you wonder what their managers are doing – possibly being just as lazy but on a better salary.

Being lazy isn’t just a young person issue. Go past any roadworks, and there will be a number of people standing around looking at their phones, or sat in a van doing the same.

Go into any McDonald’s, roadside café or Greggs, and you’ll see men in hi-viz jackets chatting away as they tuck in. They aren’t dashing to the shop to get a quick sandwich to eat while working, or making a quick soup in the microwave because they are so busy they can’t leave their site.

No workplace is immune from slackers and sadly it has become a big part of our workplace culture.

Anyway, lazy girl jobs aren’t a new thing. Two decades ago I was working in a large organisation where I had to sit next to the fax machine, staple faxes together and put them into a tray. It was dull and I spent most of the time chatting with colleagues and drinking coffee.

This was swiftly followed by a job at a call centre which was so quiet, everyone read magazines or their favourite books between taking calls.

The thing is, at the time I was just glad to just get paid – but I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do long term. We spend around 40 years of our lives working, surely most of us want to do something fulfilling and interesting?

It’s clear that young people need something to aim for, but this seems to be getting harder.

They have little chance of getting on the housing market until their 40s, they are stuck with student loans, and renting.

However, there are grafters out there as well – and these are the ones that should be held up as role models, not the lazy girls that have amassed millions of followers on TikTok.