Coworker Difficulties

I’ve talked before about some Seriously Weird Coworkers, but a recent post on the Job Lounge discussed a more common situation, coworkers that are just difficult. In this case, a real jerk of a boss who was insulting his subordinates.

In addition the advice provided by one of her experts, The Job Lounge’s Susan Ireland directs readers to a Review of Bob Sutton’s Book The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't.

The book is a guide to identifying assholes, how to avoid being one, and how to survive in their presence. In his review Guy Kawasaki includes:

---

Suttons’s dirty-dozen list of everyday asshole actions:

• Personal insults
• Invading one’s personal territory
• Uninvited personal contact
• Threats and intimidation, both verbal and non-verbal
• Sarcastic jokes and teasing used as insult delivery systems
• Withering email flames
• Status slaps intended to humiliate their victims
• Public shaming or status degradation rituals
• Rude interruptions
• Two-faced attacks
• Dirty looks
• Treating people as if they are invisible

And the Starbuck’s test:
If you hear someone at Starbucks order a “decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n’-Low and one NutraSweet,” you’re in the presence of an asshole. It’s unlikely that this petty combination is necessary—the person ordering is trying to flex her power because she’s an asshole.

---

I decided to check out the book on Amazon, and I found these simple and useful guidelines:

Test One: After talking to the alleged asshole, does the “target” feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energized or belittled by the person? In particular, does the target feel worse about himself or herself?

Test Two: Does the alleged asshole aim his or her venom at people who are less powerful rather than those people who are more powerful?

I think I might have to buy this book - not that I work with any assholes of course and most of the time I am not one myself.

And I apologize for those moments when I have been one... most often because there was no coffee. That's regular coffee, not the Starbucks decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n’-Low and one NutraSweet... I could never drink decaf.