The decline in job opportunities and the flexible capitalism result in the emergence of different work relations, such as outsourcing, contracts with cooperatives and temporary contracts. The goal of this paper is to investigate how a group of outsourced employees working as general servants in the Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Sul (PM) experience pleasure and suffering at work, particulary in relation to their work condition. Data collected in the twenty interviews carried out were analyzed through the content analysis method. Five categories were pointed out: the father who is not the boss and the boss who is not the father; job insecurity and the decrease in job postings; defences against suffering; when defences fail: the feeling of inferiority and the identity denied; one has to dream. The conclusion is that outsourced employees experience psychical suffering as a consequence of job insecurity. Moreover, the study identified weak links between outsourcing companies and outsourced employees, whose needs are partly met by the MP itself.