Something you’ve learned

Life is full of lessons. One thing I’ve learned that really has stuck with me is to treat others the way you want to be treated.

My mom always told me that when I was little, and really, it’s true. Treat people like crap and you too will be treated like crap. Be nice to people and people generally are nicer to you. There’s the odd exception when someone is such a huge asshole you can’t help but to speak your mind, but I always try to be nice to people, even if I don’t know them.

I get that a lot working in customer service and even in journalism. If you’re an asshole to people, they generally don’t react well, especially in journalism. I’ve been taught to never burn your bridges with people early in the biz, because you’ll never know when or where you’ll need them in the future.

So that’s my lesson for today: Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Tomorrow: Put your iPod on shuffle. What’s the first 10 songs?