Be nice to everyone - for self-serving reasons

In 1989 I was the high school librarian in St. Peter, MN. The town was, and still is, the home to a regional treatment center for sex offenders. At the time, its juvenile wing was staffed by two lovely young women, Ann and Theresa. Despite the fact I had no responsibility at the treatment center at all, I would occasionally drive over when these two needed help with their computer problems - being the guru of all things Apple IIe that I was. And an admirer of lovely young women.

Fast forward to 2014. I was giving my annual departmental report to the school board one Monday night. It was well received, and the school board president, Ann, reminded me that we'd worked together for about 25 years. Yes, the same Ann that I helped format a floppy disk and navigate AppleWorks in 1989 was now my district's school board chair. My boss's boss.

Here's the thing. Be nice to everyone. It's the right thing to do.

But it's also the practical thing to do since you never know who might eventually become your boss. Or your boss's boss.