I attended a conference in CA this week and had 2 similar and interesting experiences that reminded me how important it is to treat people well and respectfully and not to burn bridges as you move forward in your life.

At college I studied Chemistry and did a Masters in Theoretical Chemistry. When I started working it was as a software engineering virtually from day one. So what? Well this conference was the bi-annual American Chemical Society attended mainly by Chemists. I was there selling software that helps them do computation work more effectively.

So what happened?

I met a fellow during one session and we started talking. Turns out he was a member of the team at the University of Arkansas that provided one of the key programs I used to complete my masters and we had corresponded 25 years earlier. Moreover he was still in contact with my advisor from those days! Well thought it was interesting. Second event is even more unlikely. I was scheduled to have lunch with a Prof. Of Chemistry form Oxford on Monday and during our conversation I discovered he had been the best man at the wedding at one of my professors in South Africa where I grew up and studied. Bizarre to say the least. What are the odds of that. (Bear in mind the guy in South Africa had a class of 4 the year he taught me)!

So, lesson re-enforced, treat people with respect and dignity, you never know when or where they will cross your path again in the future.