The Blizzard of 2010 brought about 3 feet of snow to D.C. A few days ago, I got on a plane to go someplace a bit warmer (Charleston, SC). I got on the plane and looked out the window at the weather I was leaving behind.

I was busy thinking about the trip, so I didn’t notice there was a small delay. Nor did I notice when the small delay became a big delay. Not until someone got on the PA system and said “If you’re wondering why we’re not moving, we’re having some trouble locating the captain.”

Eventually they sent us back to the gate, and shortly afterwards they cancelled the flight. They didn’t say why, but after I finally got there on the next flight, I found out what had happened: the captain just decided to quit his job right before takeoff.

This guy did some serious damage to the airline. I don’t know what the situation was, and maybe he can get away with it. Maybe he isn’t getting a pension anyway, maybe he’s safe from legal action, and maybe he doesn’t need to work for anyone else ever again. Maybe.

But all too often, people find that the world is smaller than we realize, we need each other more than we think, and you only get to betray someone once.

I’ve heard trust described as a bank account. When you say you’ll do something and then follow through, you’ve made a deposit to the trust account. When your balance is high enough, you can make withdrawals by asking for favors, and you can afford penalties when you slip up now and then. But once you try to rob the bank, it’s never the same again.

I know a system administrator who responded to getting laid off by deleting all the data on a server, causing what he thought would be about $1 million in damages. The company ended up not needing what was on the server, but why do people do things like that? Actions have consequences. For God’s sake, you can hire a hitman for just a few dollars.

I recently tried to collect payment for some freelancing work from a freeloading client. First they pretended they had paid me, then they pretended to be “researching the problem,” and now they’ve broken off all contact. OK, they win on the money front, but to save a few bucks they branded themselves as deadbeats. Not a good tradeoff.

You can survive divorce, bankruptcy, and cancer, and possibly even come out of it stronger than ever. But once you sacrifice your reputation, it’s really hard to recover. And sometimes you only get one chance.