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I checked how this test fares in Academia my country (I won't mention its name) and there seems to be a surprising number of assholes here. I'm even suspecting
by jonathanstrange 7y ago
I checked how this test fares in Academia my country (I won't mention its name) and there seems to be a surprising number of assholes here. I'm even suspecting that I might be one.
> Insulting or degrading individuals or groups
Every boss in my country does this from time to time. -1
> Joking and teasing to belittle others
My British colleagues do that, but otherwise it's rare. +1
> Tersely worded group e-mails that make people feel uncomfortable
I do that. -1
> Slapping down people of lower status in the company hierarchy
Everybody in my country seems to do that, I rarely found any exceptions. (I'm a foreigner and where I come from this is frowned upon.) -1
> Eyerolling, sighing, or otherwise negative body language while others are speaking
Every boss in my country does that, even the nice ones! -1
> Ignoring people trying to contribute
Every boss does that if they don't want contributions at a time. -1
> Interrupting people who aren’t done talking
Extremely common. -1
> Touching or invading personal space
Normal for all people in my country. It's in Southern Europe. -1
> Threatening or intimidating confrontations
Many bosses do that where I live. I only dream of beating up annoying colleagues. -1
> Publicly calling out and blaming others
Habitually done in my country of residence, unless by "others" you mean a boss, then it's not done at all. -1
> Undermining someone’s confidence for asking questions
That one is rare. Especially the psychopathic narcissist are always happy to answer questions. +1
> Gossiping about coworkers to other coworkers
Everybody I've ever met in Academia has done that. -1
> Cliquey behavior and exclusion
Everybody does that in every country and on every conference I've ever been. -1
> Taking credit for the ideas or work of others
Our bosses love to do that. Some of them want their name to appear on books they never even read, let alone written. -1
> Stirring shit and troublemaking
Sounds what I do when somebody really annoys me or is totally incompetent or just a plain asshole. -1
> Singling people out for uncommon traits they have
Yep, everybody does that. We had a guy using unreadable powerpoint colors all the time, wearing bizarre ties in an environment where nobody wears ties, and generally suffering from Asperger so much that he sat down on the farthest table from everyone else to have lunch at international conferences. I liked him, but he was singled out for his behaviour. -1
> Dismissing the opinions and ideas of others without discussion
Everybody does that in our institute. X is dismissive of Y's work, Y is dismissive of Z's work, and so on, until the full circle is reached. -1
Thinking about it, we could be a whole institute of assholes according to these criteria.
That being said, I personally prefer to work together with a competent asshole rather than with an incompetent nice guy. I'm fine with an arrogant colleague if he has a reason for being arrogant, if there is something behind it. (Admittedly, these people tend to be the least arrogant, but there are exceptions.)
Nice incompetent fools in higher positions, on the other hand, infuriate me more than anything else.
- Dr_Dee 7y agoOnce I had to call a Spanish academic about a payment to a software he wrote; we needed that software badly so instead of exchanging email, we called the 'professor' and had a conversation. Never in my life did I ever experienced a person who was so full of smugness and self-rightouness. So, I guess that southern european country is Spain because I have heard stories from people who worked there that Spanish can be quite a bunch of a@@holes. Is that right?
- jonathanstrange 7y agoPortugal, so you're very close. IMHO, the cultures differ vastly between those countries, but in that respect they might be the same. Social hierarchies are a big thing here, one of the biggest downsides of an otherwise beautiful country. (As a tourist, you'd never notice any of this.)