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

the protective power of perceived impermanence.

they take perverse pleasure in insisting that project managers like her commit to timetables and budgets that are impossible to meet—and then berate and bad-mouth them when the project begins to fail, even when the project manager had warned them that their goals were impossible to achieve (and the client insisted on charging forward despite the ex

enough to make them all yourself.”

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

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).

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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).

a lack of eye contact

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