Pushing Envelopes (Paperback)

Ever been under the heel of a feedback regime? Marcus Friend is a middle manager with no human enemies that he knows of. His enemy is Human Resources (HR) and the orthodoxies they sponsor - above all appraisal and feedback. A predilection to amateur psychology results in Marcus falling in with the motley crew of psychologists that staff HR - a head honcho who worships Freud and loathes Jung, a Hispanic nymphomaniac, a treacherous fruit juggler, a wannabe guru from South Africa, and a vengeful Polish ballbreaker. It is only a matter of time before Marcus is broken on the wheel of trying to change other's behaviour. Harried by his Machiavellian boss (who he suspects of hanky-panky with his mobile-loving wife), plagued by the co-occurrence of sandwiches and windows, at war with his facial muscles and hopelessly behind on the feedbacks he is supposed to give, he is at last admitted to a clinic for burnt-out executives. His treatment seems to be working, but just as he is getting used to the idea that he doesn't have to tell the world what to do, things take a turn for the worse...