My boss is on holiday and I'm in charge

Boss-absence should be a good thing. It allows us to arrive late, lunch at a leisurely pace and leave before the tube starts crowding up with peak-hour commuters*, all without any fear that she'll notice the empty space at the corner desk.

Only, somehow, it's not. My manager is sunning herself on a beach somewhere while I'm forced into attending all the meetings that normally land in her diary. I know that I should see this as an opportunity to prove myself so that I can convince the hierarchy that I am worthy of promotion...except that doing the next job up the rung now seems like an awful lot more work.

This problem doesn't affect people in the City, however. Well, not all of them. That's because 25 per cent of City workers are so busy making money that they don't have time to take holidays, meaning that their underlings can stay happily under. Another 20 per cent can only take a week's leave, according to a survey by a financial jobs website.

*Obviously I am only talking hypothetically. Should my boss read this, I would like her to know that I arrived early, fasted all day to maximise face time and got so involved in my tasks that I didn't realise it was time to leave until the cleaner asked me to move my feet.