You Couldn?t Make It Up (a Life on the Works Department)

When Alan Allsop started work as an Apprentice Plumber back in 1976 he expected working life to be hard, serious and anything but fun. However, 27 years of working for Sheffield City Council's Works Department turned out to be just the opposite. In this amusing recollection of working life, Alan describes the reality of working for a large bureaucratic organisation from his humble beginnings as a ?19 per week apprentice to becoming a Contract's Manager overseeing a budget in the millions. The scams, the antics and the characters he came across as he rose through the ranks are recalled in detail here in this story. Parts of this tale may seem strange, crazy, even absurd, but as Alan found out as he worked his way up, no matter how bizarre some of the situations he came across may sound. You just couldn't make it up.