Working with a total asshole

He is best friends with upper management, so you have no place to lodge a complaint. James offers a taxonomy of assholes, including the boorish asshole Noel Gallagher , the reckless asshole Dick Cheney and the smug asshole Richard Dawkins — who may be right about atheism, but who comes across as an asshole, James argues, because he seems to consider himself specially entitled to ignore the toughest philosophical arguments against his position. Did you ever stop to wonder why the television sitcom The Office , which features a first-class office jerk -- the boss, no less -- is so popular? In a calm, constructive way, let these people know: Not only did turnover drop; some of those who left came back. The asshole "allows himself to enjoy special advantage… out of an entrenched sense of entitlement", immunised against complaints.

Of those willing to muster the guts to confront an office jerk, few have a clue how to do it effectively. Money beyond certain limit is only a burden. That something, James concludes, is their failure to recognise the equal moral status of others.