Disgustingly Trustworthy

The lady who runs the convenience store around the corner tells me I can take anything I like, even if she isn't there. She's Egyptian. In her words, "You can pick up the ... things .. if I'm not here, just pick up."
"You can write down for me. .. Here.", and she points to a pad next to the cash register.

In this little coastal town, I doubt 10 people know my last name. -- They all know me as Paul (the big American).
The cafes I go to for lunch or breakfast, or just to do the coffee house thing, don't mind if I get distracted and walk out once in a while. They know I'll be back and pay up - even if I really did forget to fix it up.

I'm disgustingly trustworthy.
Sometimes I think I keep too many secrets. Business secrets, personal secrets, my own secrets, .. all of them kept. Probably even a few national security secrets I forgot long ago.
No one will ever hear them.

Characteristically, my work is something personal. Too personal really.
I want every character in a program exactly as it should be; the best possible code to accomplish the task. I'll refactor over and over until I get it right.
Back to the requirements, adjust, then look it over again. One of the bains of my existance is TDD.
Half the time, I end up with the same code I began with.

I hack and question each line, each method and strategy, until it feels and looks right.
Just a little more effort, and this would be obsessive.

Being trustworthy has its upside and downside.
The upside is I don't have the stress of stringing one story onto another. My memory might get faulty, but it is as close to the truth as I can get at the time - and people know it.
On the other hand, being trustworthy means being trusting. The air goes out of the room at times when I read a look in someone's eyes or face. But, like the dangers of freedom, that's a risk I choose to take.
The Golden Rule applies both ways to a few.