The end of the line

I'd go with hanging?

Earlier today I found myself a bit early for an appointment with a customer. The customer is located a bit out of central Tokyo and this time I didn't catch a ride with the local rep and got there on my own. I didn't mind since the hospital was easy to find and the weather was really nice, but with 30 minutes to kill and no Starbucks in the immediate vicinity I hesitated for a while whether to wait inside the hospital waiting lobby with all the sick people and have to look sharp and alert as it's obvious from the suit and the tie that I'm not there to get treated. After a little hesitation, I instead headed to the park just across.

I found myself a comfortable bench, sat down, enjoyed the nice weather and started to write a mail to Mrs. Sunshine and didn't really look around until after about 10 minutes or so. On the benches surrounding me I saw one (probably) relatively clean homeless guy, one other Salaryman looking really sad and one elderly woman out to enjoy the weather. The playground was very empty and silent.

Salarymen and parks have a very special relationship and one I didn't fully consider before I sat down on the bench. Sitting in a park is basically the death sentence for a salaryman, the only salarymen who sit in parks are the ones who are complete failures; have no more customer to visits but cannot return to the head office because they are expected to be out visiting customers... Basically, if you're a Salaryman and sitting in a park, you're done for. The only things that you might consider while sitting in a park is the best way to off yourself and still make sure that the family gets the insurance money, despite your failure to provide.

I quickly left the bench and went inside the hospital instead, I had to look sharp but at least the rep showed up quickly...