"Your reputation precedes you"

It is such a nice feeling joining a ship and being greeted by a Captain who says:
“Oh it’s so good to see you back, your reputation precedes you…” I had no idea what he meant until I asked him later on that day.
New Zealand is such a small country and the shipping industry is even smaller. I have worked on just about all the ships operating on the New Zealand coast. Inter Islander Line – Aratere, Arahura, Kaitaki. Silver Fern Shipping – Torea, Kakariki. Golden Bay Cement. Pacifica Line – Spirit of Resolution. Holland America Line – Volendam. Marine Reach – Pacific Link. Spirit of Adventure Trust – Spirit of New Zealand. And I have been on board the following ships for a day. Pacifica – Spirit of Competition. Holcim Cement Ships – Melbourne Carrier 2, Westport and quite a few offshore vessels. Some would say to me don’t you get board with working only in New Zealand and to be totally honest why would you want to work anywhere else when there is a beautiful country like New Zealand here to work in. The coastal scenery is just amazing, the wildlife and sea life in the south island and the weather. I mean this is like a job in Heaven. The best part about it is that everyone knows me. If they don’t know me face to face they know of me. So that is a bonus for being a kiwi that ‘Your reputation proceeds you’ wherever you go. Every worker in the ports around the coast either know you or of you, all the pilots in the NZ shipping industry have heard of you, the Maritime School speaks highly of you and so on. So why would you want to leave all this behind to go and work on a ship deep sea where you don’t see anyone for days on end and then show up in a foreign port with workers and pilots with English as their 3rd language?
What you say and what you do will always pave a pathway forward in your life. It is proven that sound travels faster than man that is why the word gets around faster than you think. So what you do now effects what happens in the future. To end this, it is a nice feeling when you walk onto a ship for the first time and your reputation has already gone before you and paved a smooth way for your entry.