My husband is a very nice man.
So nice, that when I drive his ( very crappy) car with personalise plates in this small town people always let me out, let me have the parking space, etc. (This never happens to me when I'm in my car
)
He has only ever been nice, and fair to people. He's quite well known in our small town.
This week our lives imploded, in a "you find out who your friends are" way. People could have pointed and laughed, but they didn't. People have only been kind, sympathetic, and genuinely lovely.
Then today I came face to face with one of the girls form school who didn't make my teenage years pleasant. She was one of a group of girls who had been quite horrid to me at high school, but I'd never stuck up for my self, never answered back, or retaliated. She seemed genuinely pleased to see me after all these years. (It wasn't mutual) I've often wished I'd been more assertive back then in high school, but the funny thing is, those girls who unintentionally made my life hell remember me as a nice person. They genuinely have no idea how unhappy they made me, and are really nice to me now we are old. 
So, it's true; Be nice to people on you're way, up, coz you don't know who you'll meet on your way down! [grin}