Give them an inch and they'll take a mile

The idiom "give them an inch and they'll take a mile" is something that you say which means that if you allow someone to behave badly at all, they will start to behave very badly

Comments

[RS]

Yep. If you don't stand up for yourself, you will get pushed around. Bullys are everywhere looking for opportunities.

[California Guy]

It's not just bullies...If discipline (or any other value) is relaxed in any environment on a consistent basis, then lack of discipline becomes the norm.

Example with children: If a parent chooses to allow their child to negotiate on every little thing (bedtime, playtime, TV time), then it becomes harder to enforce discipline for non-negotiable items (keep car seat belt buckled, leave a party to go home).

Example with competitiveness: If a group of people (e.g. company, country) stop doing the things (tangible and intangible) that made them successful, then they enter a new norm that could eventually accelerate their decline.

[AG]

This is very relevant to my situation right now where my company is pushing me around having made many empty promises for the past several months, I have realized they're probably not going to honor those promises. Why? Because I have done what they have wanted without being given what I want.