Are You OR Your Boss A Certified Asshole?
Posted by Paul Wolf
Nice title for me to do my first piece as a guest blogger huh? Robert Sutton has written an interesting sounding book that I have not read yet titled The No Asshole Rule. Which is all about how to build a civilized workplace and how to survive one that isn’t.
Sutton has developed a 20 question test to determine whether in fact you are a certified asshole. We have all dealt with jerks and if you need to vent about some particular situation at work let’s hear it!
Here is the test, how do you or your boss score? I wonder how Buffalo Pundit would score on this test (ha ha)?:
Are you an a***hole? Now take this quiz to find out - indicate whether each statement is a true (T) or false (F) description of your interaction with colleagues
What are your gut reactions to people?
1. You feel surrounded by incompetent idiots - and you can’t help letting them know the truth every now and then.
2. You were a nice person until you started working with the current bunch of creeps.
3. You don’t trust the people around you, and they don’t trust you.
4. You see your co-workers as competitors.
5. You believe that one of the best ways to climb the ladder is to push other people down or out of the way.
6. You secretly enjoy watching other people suffer and squirm.
7. You are often jealous of your colleagues and find it difficult to be genuinely pleased for them when they do well.
8. You have a small list of close friends and a long list of enemies, and you are equally proud of both lists.
How do you treat other people?
9. You sometimes just can not contain your contempt towards the losers and jerks at your workplace.
10. You find it useful to glare at, insult and even occasionally shout at some of the idiots at your workplace - otherwise they never seem to shape up.
11. You take credit for the accomplishments of your team - why not? They would be nowhere without you.
12. You enjoy lobbing “innocent” comments into meetings that serve no purpose other than to humiliate or cause discomfort to the person on the receiving end.
13. You are quick to point out others’ mistakes.
14. You don’t make mistakes. When something goes wrong, you always find some idiot to blame.
15. You constantly interrupt people because, after all, what you have to say is more important.
16. You are constantly buttering up your boss and other powerful people, and you expect the same treatment from your underlings.
17. Your jokes and teasing can get a bit nasty at times, but you have to admit that they are pretty funny.
18. You love your immediate team and they love you, but you are all continually at war with the rest of the organisation. You treat everyone else like rubbish because, after all, if you’re not on my team you either don’t matter or you’re the enemy.
How do people react to you?
19. You notice that people seem to avoid eye contact when they talk to you - and they often become very nervous.
20. You have the feeling that people are always very careful about what they say around you.
21. People keep responding to your emails with hostile reactions.
22. People seem hesitant about divulging personal information to you.
23. People seem to stop having fun when you arrive.
24. People always seem to react to your arrival by announcing that they have to leave.
Scoring the test: add up the number of statements that you marked as true.
0-5: You aren’t a certified a***hole
5-15: A borderline certified a***hole, perhaps the time has come to start changing your behaviour before it gets worse
15 or more: Full-blown certified a***hole, get help immediately
Jackson Smiles Says:April 13th, 2008 at 12:07 am
This is a great book! Also, The Dream Manager and Three Signs of A Miserable Job.
Jackson Smiles Says:April 13th, 2008 at 12:43 am
Speaking of the The No Asshole Rule, should that apply to Joseph Illuzzi and his ill informed blog? How can this guy make any money? Oh wait… he tries to blackmail candidates into buying add space, and if they don’t he writes negatives comments about them.
I would like to compare him at 30 to Powers at 30. By that time Illuzzi had spent time in jail for breaking the law! Hope he didn’t drop the soap. That’s certainly respectable! So is not letting others voice their opinions on his blog! He must be too afraid of hearing real feedback. Powers graduated college, served honorably in the military, and formed a charity… then was approached to run for political office because of his amazing leadership ability.
Perhaps Illuzzi should choose his targets more carefully.
Jackson Smiles Says:April 13th, 2008 at 12:46 am
By the way Kennedy was only 30 when he took his first office!
Jackson Smiles Says:April 13th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Ooops, sorry correction, he was 29 when he took office, turned 30 in office!
Becky Says:April 13th, 2008 at 6:33 am
Speaking for myself, and only myself, it would have been nice if I had scored zero. I used a grading system which consisted of half-points for “Have done, but not a lot”, I still managed to come in under 5. Not perfect, but I can work to improve on that, and at least keep my occasional critical thoughts to myself.
Pauldub Says:April 13th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Came in under 5. What would you do if you had a co worker that would not only come in well over 15, but would brag about it as well?
mike hudson Says:April 13th, 2008 at 10:03 am
perfect reading for an indolent generation of whiney slackers who have somehow convinced themselves that work should be ‘fun.” they ought to ask their parents how fun work is.
Eric P. Says:April 13th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
mike hudson Says:
“perfect reading for an indolent generation of whiney slackers who have somehow convinced themselves that work should be ‘fun.” they ought to ask their parents how fun work is.”
What an asshole.
Pauldub Says:April 13th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Hudson has fun at work. Don’t let him kid you.
And every workplace needs an asshole. Gives you something to bitch about. Too much happy is not always a good thing.
city honors asshole Says:April 14th, 2008 at 10:13 am
My average put me at borderline certified asshole, but then my boss decided to use a new formula to score this test and my score shot me right up to certified asshole.
Jay Says:April 14th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Finally something on BuffaloPundits blog worth reading
hank Says:April 14th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I KNOW I’m an asshole, but I only got 3 out of 20. I LOVE my job. I’m paid well, I keep to myself and do what they pay me to, and I let my co-workers BS slide off my back like water off a duck. If they piss me off, I don’t let it show.
15 years ago I would have scored about 15. Age mellows.