Personal

I was eavesdropping on a conversation between two men sitting just outside my peripheral vision. We were all waiting for a delayed flight departure. One was telling the other how he had asked Human Resources for leave to help his family relocate interstate where he had been posted. HR had refused, saying that it was outside their budget.

"You've seen their financial state," I heard him say to his colleague. "I've just ignored their hypocrisy in the past. But this is personal now. I shall get even. Or better-than-even. I'll just bide my time. "

I wondered how much their company had saved by denying the executive leave to help his family manage the disruption to their lives that the company had caused.  I knew as he did that the cost would never appear on any spreadsheet. There literally would be no accounting for it. There would be no information to allow the HR Department decision maker to connect their decision with its consequences on the company's bottom line. There would be no learning.

I sensed both men rise from their seats so I looked over towards them. I wanted to I see if I could tell from their appearance what their business may be, and thus how the disgruntled one could extract his revenge. 

They walked out of the café, both putting on their airline pilot caps as they went.