In other words, what comes around goes around.
Let me give you an example.
Five years ago, I decided I had outgrown my job at a travel start-up and began applying for other opportunities. Eventually, I received a great job offer from my current company, a large corporation also in the travel sector.
I gave my boss my two weeks' notice, and everything seemed okay -- as far as I could see, he took it very well.
But on my last day, things took a decidedly different turn. Instead of getting a warm sendoff (as most employees do when they're leaving a company where they've worked for some time and built good relationships), my boss treated me as if I were getting fired.
Out of nowhere, he told me to grab my stuff, leave everything as is, and exit through the front door. I wasn't permitted to say goodbye to anyone.
He escorted me to the parking lot, where he said it wasn't personal -- just protocol. I was dumbfounded. A few months earlier, a guy who worked in sales (mind you, he reported to a different manager) was treated to a card, cake, and ample hugs and handshakes on his last day. I couldn't understand why my boss treated me so differently.
A few months later, a girl I worked with told me that my boss acted on his own -- he received no directive from any higher-ups to act so rudely.
Needless to say, I lost all respect for that man.
About a year later, I found out that karma came back to bite him -- in spades. For reasons unbeknownst to me, he was fired by the company.
I don't wish anyone misfortune, but I can't say I felt bad for him. He wasn't even a good boss to begin with, always giving my coworker and I a hard time about raises and taking time off.
I could give many other examples where people have treated me terribly, only to get in hot water for something else later on.
I firmly believe that good things we do come back to us, and bad ones do as well -- though it may not happen the next day, the next week, or even the following year.
That's why we should strive to treat each other with the same level of respect and courtesy we expect from them. Some may say the golden rule has become too cliché. I, on the other hand, feel it should be a guiding principle to live by every day.
I don't care whether one is a CEO or a mechanic, married or single, with kids or without. No one is above anyone else!
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