The Asshole Survival Guide: How to Deal with People Who Treat You Like Dirt

But it was the more skilled workers, the highly paid ones (like my relative) who were “the subject of constant abuse and under threat of termination and replacement by a lower-wage worker.”

the protective power of perceived impermanence.

University and his colleagues estimated that abusive supervision costs U.S. corporations $23.8 billion a year (based on absenteeism, health-care costs, and lost productivity).

“dismissive but not abusive toward low-wage workers with minimum skills who were loyal to him and worked tirelessly for him.”

The most valuable and admirable people care deeply about and give everything they’ve got to help their colleagues, fellow volunteers, customers, clients, and such.

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In short, petty tyrants are rarely in a position to ruin your life, but often wield their limited authority to make you suffer (and to make themselves feel more important).

“Humans have a unique capacity for mental time travel. We can transcend the here-and-now by both envisioning the past and imagining the future.”

“Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.”