This paper investigates the degree of control that designers might have over human relations in services. For this purpose, a number of speculative service designs were devised to address work-related stress. We focus on three of the generated designs, where design interventions have made changes to the material circumstance in which contacts among users and providers take place. The paper looks into the capacity of design to promote discussion and social support, and its capacity to make objects act as ‘quasi-others’ in social encounters. Through the case studies we show how different levels of designerly control can be exercised in practice.