Nobody OWES you anything! You ain't DUE nothing! (How's that for proper English?)
Keep in mind that unless you are under contract and you have fulfilled your obligations ... then no one is obliged to you for anything! Let's say you've work thirty years for the same company, they've indicated they want to go in a different direction ... no gold watch or party on retirement day? Or you are entering your office building one morning and you hold the door open for someone that seems to be in a big hurry, but they don't hold the elevator for you? Hmmm?
Yes, there is always the "law of reciprocity"; but it's not a law that if you break it (when you break it) you will have to worry about serving 8-10 in a minimum security prison. Rather, you will be met with a worse fate: broken relationships or at least relationships that don't start well.
Remember the person that you held the door for, but they didn't hold the elevator for you is waiting upstairs in your office because they are your 9:00 am interview. How do you suppose this one is going to go?
The day after you retire you're contacted by a headhunter that is working for your old company's biggest competitor. The career you just retired from, which started right after college, may not be over after all ... you're only fifty-four years old, there's still fire in your belly, why not keep working?
It might sound selfish, but you need to do things because you want to do them, because they make you happy, because they fulfill you. Don't do something with the expectation that the kind gesture or loyalty will be returned. If it is reciprocated then consider it a bonus.
