ABSTRACT
About eight years ago, a fierce blizzard swept through the northeast coast of the United States, bringing workplaces to a virtual standstill. With as much as eighteen or more inches of snow piling up in many places, no one seemed to be going anywhere. Airports were closed and most places of employment in the city simply didn’t open. In an interview with a reporter from National Public Radio, Jenny, a bank worker who was playing in and enjoying the snows of New York City’s Central Park, was asked what she would be doing were it not for the blizzard. With a downcast tone in her voice, Jenny bluntly replied, “Working . . . bored to death.” As she gleefully kicked and slogged through the freshly fallen snow blanketing the Big Apple on a work-free day, I suspect Jenny spoke for many workers.
