ABSTRACT
Lisa is an office first line manager in the planning department of a local authority. The workload varies in a regular fashion, in five-week cycles. The final week of the cycle is very busy, but the pace of the work at other times is quite steady. The work which the office handles is fairly simple and repetitive, and Lisa sometimes envies people (like Kris the fire-fighter) who have an exciting time of it at work. Her own job, she says ‘Is like being on a treadmill. You jog along every day, but you never seem to get anywhere. Some mornings it’s an effort to get out of bed and come to work.’
