20190414.0430

Another article that LinkedIN recommended I read is Adam Grant's 8 April 2019 "The Office without A**holes" (the asterisks are in the article; I have no scruple about such words). The piece is a transcript of a podcast that talks about assholes at work--who and what they are--and their negative effects on the workplace, as demonstrated by formal study. Grant also relates methods for diffusing the kind of jackassery described in the piece, including affording employees greater agency and developing company cultures that tolerate absence rather than obnoxious conduct from performing people. That does not mean that nobody should ever feel upset or offended, but there are differences between putting across hard-to-hear ideas and using them, or other interactions, as chances to vent institutional authority.
It should be obvious why I was attracted to the article at first. My writing, here and in other places, does not seldom revel in the opportunity to use words deemed impolite, as witness the papers on bullshit I've delivered at major conferences and the occasional entry into this webspace with the "NSFW" tag. In them, as in Grant's article, the juxtaposition of the "naughty" word with "professional" or "intellectual" spaces amuses--or so it is hoped. (Some folks never do get past themselves about it, and it is possible that I occasionally go a little further with my jokes than ought to happen.) And, indeed, I was reminded as I read of others' works on bullshit, namely James Fredal's 2011 College English piece, "Rhetoric and Bullshit," with which I've done much.
Such is not all I take from the article, however. As I reflect on it, I am perhaps most aware of how grateful I am that my workplace--small as it is--is generally free from assholery. There are, of course, bad days, as there will be with any group of people; even my family, whom I love, sometimes vexes me in such ways. All it takes is inattention to what is going on, really, and few or none of us can attend to every utterance with the care and concern needed to avoid being an asshole altogether. (It occurs to me, too, where the metaphor of calling people assholes fails. Yes, things unpleasant to the senses emerge from them, but without the expulsion, death would soon follow--and not a nice one.) But on the whole, things are good here. It's one of the many reasons I'm not looking forward to being on the job market again--and, again, I do not anticipate needing to be, but I'll not let myself be caught unprepared for it if I am.
I've been among assholes, I've worked for assholes, I've been an asshole. (Ask my students.) It is nice to be away from them, even for a little while. For still must I go out into the world...