Line #15 PlayingWith/InsufferableGenius


1	'''Basic Trope''': [[TheSmartGuy An intelligent character]] is [[JerkAss self-absorbed.]]
2	* '''Straight''': Carnegie, the TeenGenius, [[JerkAss is arrogant to everyone he meets]] and insults their intelligence at regular intervals. However, he's so smart that in times of crisis, they have no choice but to turn to him.
3	* '''Exaggerated''':
4	** Carnegie is incapable of saying anything nice at all, and has a superpower allowing him to [[{{Seers}} anticipate everything]].
5	** Carnegie is an EvilGenius.
6	** Carnegie is a NerdyBully.
7	** Carnegie is an EvilNerd.
8	* '''Downplayed''':
9	** Carnegie is {{Pr\|ide}}oud of his intellectual gifts but not to the point of despising others. He knows his weakness in that area and makes a point of working on it. Those who know him don't feel him to be arrogant.
10	** Carnegie is very smart and prideful, but he isn’t a genius.
11	** Carnegie is arrogant, but not outright rude to people unless unprovoked.
12	** JerkassHasAPoint.
13	** MeasuringTheMarigolds
14	** Carnegie treats the less intelligent with CondescendingCompassion.
15	** Carnegie is TheSpock.
16	** Carnegie is a smart guy with NoSocialSkills, but he's working on them, however reluctantly.
17	* '''Justified''':
18	** Carnegie knows he's a genius, and he knows that his team has no choice but to listen to him.
19	** Carnegie is insufferable so people won't pester him with so many questions.
20	** Carnegie thought he never had to develop a sense of humility or social skills because he grew up "gifted."
21	** InferioritySuperiorityComplex
22	** Carnegie has been diagnosed with {{narcissis\|t}}m.
23	** Carnegie's greater awareness of the world around him and/or the consequences of ideas and actions can lead to him being irritated by realities that are invisible to normal people. With no one to share it with, he becomes prickly.
24	** Carnegie feels he is SurroundedByIdiots.
25	** Carnegie is unpopular at school or around other people, so he probably acts insufferable out of spite.
26	** Carnegie's parents were always showing off his intellect to other people to impress them, leading him to think he's inherently superior to everyone.
27	** Carnegie brags so much about his intelligence, because he is convinced this will motivate other people to learn from him and improve themselves. If his criticism is harsh, it's because he wants other people to overcome their weakness.
28	** Carnegie's intelligence was commonly underestimated as a student due to factors such as having an ambiguous disorder, so he occasionally tries too hard to prove that he really is smart.
29	** Carnegie's an ass, but his colleagues [[WorldOfJerkass are no better if not just as horrible]].
30	* '''Inverted''':
31	** KindheartedSimpleton.
32	** Carnegie is brilliant but has crippling self-esteem problems stemming from the constant mockery of his peers. In times of crisis, however, he is forced to offer solutions even though he's afraid to even speak. (This can lead to a double subversion when he finally gets praise and recognition for his talents and doesn't know how to handle it properly.)
33	** Carnegie is [[TheSmartGuy a smart man]] convinced that he's [[TheDitz an idiot]].
34	** GentlemanAndAScholar.
35	** JerkJock.
36	** InsufferableImbecile.
37	** Carnegie's intelligence causes himself to [[EnemyWithin beat himself up over every little lapse of judgment because "smart people shouldn't do stupid things"]].
38	* '''Subverted''':
39	** Carnegie decides to become a nicer person…
40	** Alternatively: Carnegie is only condescending to those he doesn't like. He's got a lot more patience for his friends.
41	** Carnegie is socially awkward and puts up psychological barriers to protect his demand for autonomy. He is also aggressive in debate. Many mistake that for arrogance but those close to him know him as a GentlemanAndAScholar [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold under his shell]].
42	** Carnegie [[KnowNothingKnowItAll is not actually even smart]].
43	* '''Double Subverted''':
44	** …but gets over it.
45	** However, he's really [[StealthInsult insulting them on a higher level than they can understand]], laughing behind their backs.
46	** Carnegie make a show of being NiceToTheWaiter. However he is really so arrogant that he cannot believe himself to be arrogant; having a flaw would imply that he cannot control himself.
47	** Carnegie becomes smarter. Alternatively: he was not very smart because he had to talk about something he didn't know much about on short notice.
48	* '''Parodied''': Whenever anyone comes to Carnegie with a problem they need help solving, he spends an hour insulting them. When they finally get fed up and start to walk away, he says, "Wait! Don't go! Here's the solution!"
49	* '''Zig-Zagged''': Carnegie's niceness and intelligence vary from day to day.
50	* '''Averted''': Intelligence is not a determinant of kindness.
51	* '''Enforced''':
52	** "Let's have TheSmartGuy be a real asshole to everyone! That's how it works in real life, right?"
53	** Most of the writers have at least one former coworker who was both brilliant and a complete asshole.
54	** One of the writers was just fired for pervasive personality issues despite being one of the best on the team, and Carnegie's character is heavily based on them as something of a TakeThat
55	* '''Lampshaded''': "Ah, yes, your problem. Rest assured I've known all about it, long before you could even conceptualize it. By the time you started considering the possibility of a solution, I had already formulated several viable ones."
56	* '''Invoked''':
57	** Carnegie has been an asshole all his life. He decided to start rigorously studying so that people would have to put up with him.
58	** Alternatively: Carnegie, who has always been gifted with intelligence, is deliberately rude to people so that they will leave him alone.
59	* '''Exploited''': Ben, needing a partner for a science project, promptly asks the resident asshole.
60	* '''Defied''': Carnegie is told by those around him that they won't hesitate to kick him out (or just plain kick him, and they do ''[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown not]]'' guarantee they'll be able to stop if they ever truly do it) if he doesn't shape up and start acting nicer.
61	** Despite full awareness of his genius, Carnegie believes an overinflated ego is not only completely unnecessary on top of being a red flag he needs to seek help, but it would only be a massive detriment to the progress of the project as well as overall company morale. He realizes, though he provides most of the major solutions, he alone can't finish the project and needs everyone doing their part to make it work. Plus, he himself hates toxic, narcissistic people and doesn't want to be anything like them.
62	* '''Discussed''':
63	** "Dammit, I wish there was someone else who could fix our problems. I hate going to that jackass for help."
64	** "Uh, Carnegie? Um, yes, I did work with him, but I'm also honestly shocked that he put me down as a reference, but I'm also kinda not shocked. In all honesty, he is a brilliant man and I can't take that away from him, but he was also incredibly difficult to work with at best and seemed to resent having to work with anyone for any reason, and I seriously wonder if he's capable of giving constructive feedback or honest critiques of other people's work that aren't just an excuse for him to belittle, berate, mock, and generally remind people how stupid they are compared to him. I say I'm not shocked that he put me down because he's also so self-absorbed and narcissistic that he probably does think that everyone else sees him as a god among men who is not to be questioned, only worshiped. In short, yeah, if you want a truthful evaluation of Carnegie from a coworker's perspective, I think you'll find that what I'm saying right now is what everyone else in my position would say."
65	* '''Conversed''': "I'm giving my notice. I've had it. I just can't with Carnegie any more. Working with him makes me want to shoot myself, and the company has made it clear that he's way too valuable to fire or even discipline." "Damn, you finally did it, huh?" "Yup. After many discussions with my boss and many, ''many'' forwarded emails and single-spaced pages of documentation of interactions where he was a massive prick, it's become clear that there's nothing he can do that will make them stop trying to appease him, especially since his go-to response to any sort of potential discipline is to present offer letters from competitors and ask them how much they're willing to lose. He's the golden goose who laid the eggs and then took a big fat shit all over everything, and I am so, so, ''so'' tired of it all." "This is why, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, you're better off hiring the decent candidate who is a nice person than hiring the rock star candidate who is a nightmare to deal with as a person. No amount of skill is worth the morale drain these people bring."
66	* '''Deconstructed''':
67	** Everyone who works with Carnegie hates him -- he may be smart, but he's too much of an asshole to deal with.
68	*** Everyone hates him ''so much'' that when someone [[GentlemanAndAScholar just as smart but more pleasant]] than him shows up, they fire Carnegie on the spot while giving him TheReasonYouSuckSpeech for how much of an asshole he is.
69	*** Carnegie is such a toxic presence in his department that the turnover rate rapidly increases once people realize that, no matter how many people he pisses off, he's a high enough performer that he's effectively untouchable, and he becomes such a consistent reason for people leaving the job that almost every negative Glassdoor review from his department specifically mentions him without naming names.
70	** Because of historical issues with Carnegie and people like him, the departments at Carnegie's former job that tend to attract brilliant people with large egos who are incredibly hard to work with have well-codified "no jerks" policies that make it easy to discipline and fire high performers with personality issues before they destroy morale and cause people to leave.
71	** Carnegie is so difficult to work with that projects that he is involved with take significantly longer and cost far more than industry standard, as people leave his projects so often that contractors typically need to be brought in, but the company is still blinded by his ability and the fact that the final results typically are of high quality and can't seem to recognize how much he costs it in time, money, and morale.
72	** Carnegie has historically been shielded from the consequences of his extreme rudeness and contemptuous hostility towards others because he is an incredibly high performer, but after he angers a major client to the point where the company loses their shirt renegotiating a deal with them just so they won't leave, Carnegie is finally and unceremoniously kicked to the curb.
73	** Carnegie's arrogance comes from [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex a crippling need to assure himself he's really that smart]]. On the occasions he ''does'' get something wrong, he collapses into a HeroicBSOD.
74	** Instead of his genius solving problems, Carnegie creates even more problems due to his intolerability.
75	** People distrust all smart people because of Carnegie's behavior.
76	** After being fired so often for his personality, Carnegie is effectively unemployable because none of his old colleagues is willing to give him a reference for his new job, word has spread around the industry that he's a nightmare to work with, and he's pissed off enough former clients and vendors that going freelance or starting his own business are not viable options. The only options he has now for money are dysfunctional businesses that can't afford to pay him anywhere near what he was making, or unstable startups run by people who have zero experience running a business that are likely doomed to failure.
77	** Carnegie developed an arrogant personality as a result of people around him underestimating his intelligence. [[InnocentlyInsensitive He doesn't even realize he's been being so insensitive]] and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone feels horrible about it]] when he's told that he's been acting in such a way.
78	** Because Carnegie believes intelligence equals superiority, he (consciously or unconsciously) has some pretty ableist views, and goes so far as to [[BullyingTheDisabled bully someone for having an intellectual disability]]. Nobody wants anything to do with him after that, no matter how helpful his problem-solving skills are.
79	** Carnegie is so proud of his intelligence that he becomes overconfident, goes into a difficult project [[BrilliantButLazy without putting in any real effort]], and [[BreakTheHaughty fails spectacularly]]. He's horrified because he never imagined he could possibly screw up.
80	* '''Reconstructed''':
81	** Everyone who works with Carnegie admits that he may be an asshole, but he's still one of the smartest guys around.
82	** He eventually learns to take occasional failure more easily, and becomes a lot less smarmy as a result, though he's still a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
83	** [[ThemeNaming Rockefeller]], another genius, repudiates Carnegie and gains people's trust this way.
84	** Carnegie manages to apologize to those he wronged, and finds people who know he really is smart and can convince him that [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre he is better than he thinks he is]].
85	** It isn't disability that Carnegie has a problem with. It's those he perceives as wilfully ignorant.
86	** Carnegie learns how important it is to have a good work ethic (and becomes arrogant about that too).
87	* '''Played for Laughs''': For every word Carnegie utters that someone else interprets as wishing to cause affront, he takes a pratfall.
88	* '''Played for Drama''':
89	** Carnegie is visited by supernatural beings who reform him by showing him a vision of what he is like in other people's eyes.
90	** Emperor Evulz [[OffingTheAnnoyance kills Carnegie in a fit of rage.]] Carnegie was looking for it, though, because even with multiple death threats hanging over him, he couldn't stop being a jackass because he thought "CantKillYouStillNeedYou" would keep him safe. [[RageBreakingPoint You can only insult someone so many times.]]
91	** Carnegie is (allegedly) TheOnlyOne who can solve a problem. People prefer to let "the problem" kill them, or accept the risk of [[TakeAThirdOption taking a third (potentially fatal) option]], as long as it doesn't involve dealing with Carnegie in any way, shape or form.
92	* '''Played for Horror''': Carnegie is TheSociopath and people insulting his genius in any way, shape or form is his (quite lethal) BerserkButton. Considering how much of a dick he is, this is a button that gets pushed ''very'' often, [[TheScottishTrope even when people know bad things will happen if it does]].
93	* '''Implied''':
94	** Carnegie is a well-known genius, but no one wants to be around him.
95	** Carnegie and Bob are the last candidates standing for a highly skilled position, and while Bob's abilities and body of work are much less impressive than Carnegie's, he is chosen because he is easier to work with and a much nicer person.
96	** Bob leaves a negative Glassdoor review of his former job that specifically refers to issues with "golden children" and "cultures that aid, abet, reward, and shield toxic high performers from any sort of consequence."
97	** Carnegie leaves a negative Glassdoor review of his former job that complains of "TallPoppySyndrome" and decries a culture that "rewards mediocrity" and "does not tolerate anyone who threatens the status quo or highlights performance disparities."
98	** The interview process for an extremely skilled position involves a large panel interview with people from numerous departments, and focuses more on culture- and attitude-related questions than is typical for an interview for that position, which are so suspiciously specific that they are clearly based on past experiences.
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100	I foresaw that you philistines would come to me with questions about examples of this trope. Fortunately, I have catalogued several at InsufferableGenius so that you could understand them.
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102	%%Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:

Context PlayingWith / InsufferableGenius