What's the difference...

[Imperium]

between an asshole and a hardass?

Say you have a boss, coworker, coach, etc. How would you define the difference between attitudes?

Asshole - a jerk who you feel belittles you and is demanding; e.g., "Are you incompetent, because this work is unacceptable. Do it again!"

Hardass - an often terse individual who is demanding; e.g., "This work is not adequate, what support do you need to redo this?"

 

[Edward Horne]

Usually a hardass is fair and an asshole is not.

 

[Loktar]

One time I was surrounded by hard asses and assholes. Then I left the gay bar.

 

[Donovan]

An asshole boss is one you hate because you know he's wrong and can't do shit about it, while a hardass boss is one you hate because you know he's right, and you STILL can't do shit about it.

 

[Imperium]

One time I was surrounded by hard asses and assholes. Then I left the gay bar.

Did you at least get a chance to dance?

 

[Imperium]

An asshole boss is one you hate because you know he's wrong and can't do shit about it, while a hardass boss is one you hate because you know he's right, and you STILL can't do shit about it.

A hardass (boss or not) should not have to be 'dealt with.'

I work with a lot of complacent, ill equipped people (technically speaking) and the meetings usually consist of them raising issue that "this is not my job" or "we do not know how to do that", so it ends up my responsibility to provide the skills, report, training, etc.

I have seen 3 different ways that this is handled:

1) The Asshole tells you in front of the team that you are incompetent. Either do it or find another job.

2) The Hardass tells you in front of the team that you own the issue and you are responsible for finding the solution. The team is there to help, but it is your problem to resolve.

3) The Nice Ass simply suggests that you step up in hopes that you will meanwhile the teams knows they will have to pick up the slack.

I can understand being a Nice Ass initially and my boss usually carries this tone for too long in my opinion. I can start out as the Nice Ass, but immediately jump to HardAss when I expect laziness.

That's the way I see it. I am wondering what everyone else thinks.

 

[Loktar]

Did you at least get a chance to dance?

I was making a joke. I never went to a gay bar....it was more of a bisexual bar.