it is easier to behave properly when you have a big pile of chips in front of you. when you don't have any chips, it is tougher. that's why the best get better and the worst get worse.
Given how much people talk, you'd think that when the pile is small is when you need to be all the more careful about how you treat people if you want that to ever change...
For my part I have an mental list of both vc's I'd love to work with again, and VC's I not only will never, ever take anything from again even if it's just a free pen, and while I won't badmouth them publicly, there are certainly some I like to think I will slide just a little bit quicker into obscurity thanks to the odd situations where their name might have come up in conversation..