‘A Minute’s a Life

The fast-food sector remains significantly under researched relative to its size and importance. Drawing on qualitative data this article explores the nature of managerial work in a market leading organisation. The research speaks to important contemporary debates vis-a-vis managerial job quality in routinised service sector work and the compatibility of such jobs with key quality of working life (QWL) criteria (e.g. opportunities for skills development, decision latitude, voice and meaning). The theoretical contribution of the article lies in the rigour of the analytical lens and exploration of how objective QWL criteria are coloured by subjective expectations and social processes to produce nuanced and unanticipated outcomes, for example accounts of rewarding, interesting and meaningful work notwithstanding severe structural constraints and bureaucratic rigidities