Burn bridges

To “burn bridges” means to ruin a past relationship, in a way that that relationship no longer exists or is useful. This is a wartime metaphor. If an army is defeated, it may leave a territory and burn the bridges behind it. This means that they can’t go back in. And so “burn bridges” today means that you ruin a relationship so that you can never have a good relationship with that person or organization again.

In the context of today’s lesson, if a laid-off worker steals customer data and publicly criticizes his ex-employer, that worker is burning bridges. The worker is ruining relationships with the company. He will likely never have a chance to work for that company again. And depending on what he did, he may have burned bridges with individuals, too.

No matter how frustrated or angry you are, it’s never a good idea to burn bridges. Even if you don’t think you’ll ever want a relationship with someone (or with an organization), it’s best not to completely ruin the relationship forever. Times change, and in the future you may be glad you didn’t burn bridges.