This button is the perfect companion to the ARSE test. The purpose of this self-test is to find-out if you are a certified asshole, at risk of becoming one, or a genuinely civilized person. In other words, it can help you come to grips with the fact that you are -- or are fast becoming -- a demeaning jerk and that it just might be time to do something about it!
To be a bit more serious, the best way to use the test is probably not just to take yourself, but to get key people in your social network to complete it about you -- you boss, peers, subordinates, customers, and perhaps your wife, husband, friends, and lovers.
I took the test - who could resist - and scored a 2 (which is probably more like a 2.5). I'm wondering if there is a slight gender bias in it? For some of the questions, I found myself thinking 'who could possibly check 'True' on that one?' Or is it that the asshole profile is so aligned with power, and that women haven't had all that much historically....
In my experience, women tend to be more passive-aggressive in the work place than men - perhaps not as demeaning to fellow workers as assholishness, but aggravating just the same.
Posted by: Maureen Rogers | February 06, 2007 at 06:08 AM
Ah, yes, I wonder what my score will be when I have others take it about me. Now that's a good one. This could be the ultimate in the 360-degree review questionnaire. Wow, get rid of the silly performance review systems and go with the ARSE. (The ARSE Arsenal.)
Posted by: Frank Roche | February 05, 2007 at 06:38 PM
Ally,
Thanks for the comment -- I got an 11. Perhaps I better re-read my book. We are actually working on some ways to send the book anonymously -- and it does have the test. But you raise an interesting question. Of course, you can always use an anonymous email of some kind and put in the URL, but that isn't as fun. Indeed, there was one person who especially inspired the test. I am tempted to send it to him after your note!
Posted by: Bob Sutton | February 05, 2007 at 12:34 PM
Hi Bob,
Well, you know what they say: it's good to get all your tests done at the beginning of the year. So,
having had my teeth cleaned, my mammogram, my full physical and eye's examined, I felt it time to have your ARSE test. Call me old fashioned, but frankly I would have been a tad more comfortable if you would have gone with calling it an Asshole Self-Test, rather than a Self-Exam, but I took it anyway.
And of course, I passed, or failed, as the case may be, by scoring a 1. So thank you. Oh, one final thing: Is the test covered by insurance?
With admiration,
Ally Polly
P.S. Would there be a way to send this test anonymously to those not yet out of the closet Assholes?
Posted by: Ally Polly | February 05, 2007 at 12:27 PM