You should be nice to people all the time. You should strive to be professional, and courteous, and you should go out of your way not just to avoid offense, but to be extra kind. You should do all of this because it’s good to do, but there’s a large personal benefit as well.
The concept is “social capital.” The idea is that if you are generally a very kind and courteous person, your missteps will be more readily forgiven. We all make mistakes, so it’s good to have a large store of that capital built up. If your account is large, then you can do things like make bold social moves or make risky jokes (risky, not intentionally unkind!) without as much fear of losing the good graces of your community.
Be nice, have fun!
The Opportunity Machine 