A remarkable phrase which is being used more and more these days is: "I can't be bothered".

It is the middle of summer (supposedly) and with the holidays upon us I have noticed something quite familiar.

I know it is difficult sometimes getting a job but that 'anything will do' attitude has almost disappeared.

It seems some of us just cannot be bothered in doing any sort of work.

I asked some younger fellows I know why they couldn't get a summer job rather than sit in a parked car pretending to own the street. I can't be bothered' came the reply.

It was the same when I asked another and then another. Finally, I couldn't be bothered and walked off.

I left school in the summer of 89. It might seem like an eternity ago but it was tough getting a job. In fact it was very tough. So much so that I ended up packing toilet rolls for a living.

I didn't need to take an interview or anything - the factory owner just needed a bloke who could move. I was that man.

It was good honest work and it taught me one thing. Work is not meant to be easy.

It is meant to be hard. It is meant to make you hate your boss and it is meant to make you tired.

Oh...and the bosses only paid me a £1 an hour. The day began at seven and ended at six. For 11 hours I got £11.

That first week I worked 55 hours for which I was paid...£60. I got five a pound bonus for not wasting any toilet rolls.

It was unbearably hot, the air-conditioning was dreadful, the co-workers listened to depressing tunes about how sad their lives were and at lunch everyone stole my home-made jam sandwiches.

Despite all that at least one never ran out of toilet rolls...which was kind of blessing.

Then one day the boss came up with a new idea and decided to try it out on the resident guinea pig.

He had just got a hold of a shipment of cheap nappies and needed them packing.

Now, he couldn't make me pack them by the hour so decided I would get paid by the number of nappy bags I packed. Twenty pence a pack.

At this stage I did feel like quitting especially after an incident when he accused me of not packing the nappies tight enough, but one thing kept me going.

It was a mixture of pride and the fact that I didn't want him to win.

Can't be bothered' never even crossed my mind.