Karma

I believe the scene I'm thinking of is in Mission Impossible II. I didn't watch the whole thing. I noped out after they cut some guy's finger off. Just wasn't up for that on that occasion.

But, before that, the main character Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is asked to recruit a woman thief and she's gorgeous and they end up in bed. And after they sleep together, he's informed that they want to use her to seduce her ex-boyfriend.

Ethan Hunt thought they needed her amazing thieving skills and he's in love or hoping to be and not thrilled to learn the actual intended purpose of recruiting her.

So they argue because she thinks he knew all along that was the goal and she thinks he's trying to get his hooks into her and force her to go along and he rebuts that.

And he tells her something like "No, I don't want to force anyone to work with me knowing my life will probably be in their hands at some point."

I don't know why so many rich and powerful people are apparently horrendous jackasses to people who work for them. 

If he is your chauffeur, your life is in his hands. 

If he repairs your car, your life is in his hands. 

If she cleans your house or cooks your meals, your life is in her hands.

Historically, mistreated women sometimes poisoned the people they work for. As I joked once on Cyburbia: Because you FOOLS eat what we cook.

That was probably much more common than people think. Until relatively recently, forensics didn't really exist and sudden death from medical ailments with no real explanation were fairly common.

If someone up and DIED, if there wasn't something like a knife sticking out of his chest, they mostly didn't investigate it as a murder. They routinely chalked stuff up to natural causes and moved on.

And no one has to be trying to kill you for you to DIE because your life is in their hands and they don't much like you.

Matthew Perry died in 2023, but by all rights should have died years earlier. Around the time he died, I read a few articles and he had a history of addiction and medical intervention related to that.

At one point, he coded -- his heart stopped -- and a medical professional who was a fan of his performed CPR for over seven minutes before they managed to get his heart restarted. The typical standard is five minutes.

He himself characterized it as his fame from being on Friends saving his life. 

So someone who liked him personally though they didn't really know him personally went the extra mile and he lived. Had the guy stopped at the usual five minute mark like he was supposed to do, Matthew Perry would have died.

And no one would have been accused of murder. There would have been no investigation.

So if you are an asshole, the people around you are probably doing only as much as they feel they absolutely must do to avoid being charged with criminal negligence or manslaughter or whatever if things go badly. 

"I did my job. Shit happens. You can't charge me. That's the extent of my duty in an environment where you clearly feel no loyalty to me and no concern about my welfare."

I read an article or book once where some guy in a position of some importance in a company and a new hire felt shafted over what he felt was something small for the company that hurt him somewhat significantly. And he made the point that it's bad policy to do that to someone in his position because it's penny wise and pound foolish.

Whatever small cost they saved by it, it's going to come out of their hide at least ten times over when he decides to clock out at 5 p.m. on the dot and not take an extra five minutes to do that little thing that's going to be a case of a "stitch in time saves nine."

He will do the nine stitches for you tomorrow and get paid by the hour to clean up an unnecessary mess because he had no reason to care. It's not coming back to him.

If you are rich and a chronic asshole and it seems like no matter how much income you have, it's never enough, that's probably why.

And wherever you go, there you are. If you are a chronic asshole, you probably think that's justified "because everyone treats me like shit."

And most people will make no effort to clue you. The people working for you will not tell you "Nah, I do the minimum. Because you're a jerk."

Your rich associates probably won't try to tell you and, if they do, you probably won't believe them.