If you have a senior job, do you assume that someone in a poorly paid job is less intelligent than you?

[angelos02]

I used to have a very well paid role but it made me anxious and I could never switch off. As DH earns good money we can afford for me to do a basic office job and I earn a little over the minimum wage but it suits me as I am emotionally much happier.

I just find that some people at work often speak to me as though I am less bright than them and I find it frustrating.

[DuckworthLewis]

some people do* this and...

[DuckworthLewis]

arse.

[DuckworthLewis]

what were we saying about highly paid jobs =/= intelligence?

[Onesleeptillwembley]

There are also different firms of intelligence. My exSIL (we're still close and I love her to bits) got all her degrees up to Phd as a single mother with no support (exh and I were abroad, rest of family useless) and three spectacularly naughty (yes, naughty, childminders terminated contracts, etc) kids. She has the most formidable intelligence. BUT she has not one drop of common sense. Not one iota. I love her, but at times she exasperates me.

[sybilwibble]

Gosh no. In fact I try and make it my business to only recruit people brighter than me. They make me look great!

[MoreBeta]

What has intelligence got to do with a person's value?

I work in a very high skill specialist area and have all sorts of degrees and qualifications. However, people have different skills and in many cases I have to rely on people without my qualifications and who perhaps left school with relatively few qualifications but I cannot do what I do without them. My skills are worthless without their input.

One of the most interesting and intelligent people I have ever met was a chimney sweep indeed he swept my chimney again a few months ago. I can tell though he just is not the sort of person who can deal with the stress of working in an organisation or dealing with people. Hence he works alone but gets intellectual stimulation from being very widely read - better than me by far.

[HauntedNoddyCar]

I've seen both sides of it too. After I did my very niche degree I was temping doing secretarial work. One company was in the same basic field as mine and I got patronised wildly by the male staff until one of them discovered what my degree was in and there was a marked change in attitude.

My SIL and her accountant chums treat me like a bimbo mummy type which is irksome but says more about them than me.

[scantilymad]

Nope.
One of my best friends is a qualified lawyer but chose a secretarial role as she didn't like the pressure of being a fee earner. Smartest lady I know.

[HermioneWeasley]

No, why would I?

I think I assume they've got different priorities.

[maparole]

Treating people decently is just good manners. A close friend of mine (who, incidentally, had a brain the size of Jupiter - think Stephen Fry - but was also bipolar and had to leave his high-stress job for something less demanding) once said to me that "Good manners are a staightforward function of intelligence"

Therefore, if you need to look down on someone, it must show that you are a bit lacking in intelligence yourself.

Anyway, how to define intelligence? Most of the truly super-intelligent peope I have had the fortune to meet in my life - like the friend above - have some sort of social ineptitude/asd type difficulty to go with it and so don't find the workplace an easy environment.

[yourlittlesecret]

I did exactly the same as you OP. I now work part time in a lowly admin role in the NHS.
The very worst offenders are those just 1 grade above me.

[ProfondoRosso]

It makes me so mad, reading about how vile some idiots can be to those they view as 'less intelligent.'

I'm nearly finished my PhD. I've worked part time throughout. I was working in a (very lovely) shop with great colleagues but some of the customers were such horrendous fannies. Treating you as if you were subnormally intelligent.

I don't intend to go into academia post PhD. It hasn't been good for my mental health these past few years. Fellow PhD students completely understand my reasons and many of them don't feel they're selling themselves short by not pursuing academic careers either. But so many people seem to relish telling me what a waste of my education I'd be making. They can just fuck the fuck off. I am secure in my intelligence and will try to do what makes me happy.

[MrsWedgeAntilles]

When I was very young and just in the world of employment armed with my shiny new honours degree, yes I did.
It took about 3 days of people I thought were below me running rings round me to cure me of that and I thank my lucky stars for that everyday

[YoHoHoandabottleofWine]

No. One of our PAs is amazing at everything and one of my best friends.

[grumpyoldbat]

I don't have a senior job so I've been on the receiving end. Not always subtle either.

I just want to scream "yes I know I'm thick and you're really clever now stop rubbing my nose in it".

Although I'm pretty useless at most things I have enough awareness to know everyone is better than me. Many people don't even credit me with that.

[TamerB]

No, people have different priories and paid employment isn't high on some people's lists.

[DisgraceToTheYChromosome]

I work in a field widely regarded as being populated by knuckledragging chauvinists. However, the job itself weeds out the idiots, and ferocious legislation keeps most of the chancers in line. Some of the attitudes are a bit but sweary good manners are prevalent: we're grown ups.

The best thing? Knowing that in 5 minutes the ludicrous bequiffed pillock (they think of themselves as managers, but they're really terminal operators) will be a dot in the mirror. Then you can get on with the real job: birdwatching, listening to R4, sneering at Audi drivers and contemplating bacon.

This weeks highlights were 4 buzzards, a heron and watching the Eurostar slide underneath me at Dartford. Stress? What's that?

[justdrankacappuccino]

Yes, some people do.

I'm PA to the CEO of a large Plc. I also have a degree. When asked what I did, I was called a 'dogsbody' by a retired hairdresser... When I told the Restaurant Manager in a previous company I was really busy she asked if I had a lot of letters to type...



If people are condescending now I just suck it up. I just figure that they lack emotional intelligence - poor lambs.

[HicDraconis]

I try not to. I'm in a senior role and work with people from a wide variety of socioeconomic / educational backgrounds. Some will be more intelligent than I am, some less. But as long as we all integrate as a team and do the job properly, intelligence or otherwise doesn't come into it. We socialise regularly and I don't think anyone cares who is senior and who's a cleaner tbh.

Once had a really lovely young chap - 30s or so, married with a couple of young children - in to do some building work. Chatting with him on a break waiting for tiling cement to dry and he told me he'd got straight As at O & A level (yes I am that old!) and was in training to be a vet. Then he gave it up, was apprenticed to a building firm, learned everything and set up in business for himself. He said every day was different, every family and home that he worked in was different and he loved the variety while at the same time being his own boss. He was way more intelligent than me :) damn good builder too.

[WhereDoAllTheCalculatorsGo]

After inheriting a lot of money I downsized my job for an easier life so I think I do know a bit about this. Yes, some people do, they can be arses. Actually though, the customers are the worst where I work, entitled types who think they are better than you because you're dealing with their complaint.

[Chottie]

Yes, I have found some people to be like that. When I started in a lowly position, the then office manager was very superior in her manner. Fast forward and I'm now part of the senior management team and her attitude is totally different!

I try to treat everyone with respect and consideration - basically how I would like them to treat me.

[MsAspreyDiamonds]

I work with a load of very well educated & qualified people but most of them would struggle to function outside their niche world. They don't have any practical or social communication skills, the appropriate way to address a condolence card would be lost on them.

Due to my family circumstances, I have chosen not to fulfill a more managerial role within my field. -- I also
dont want to line manage a bunch of ruthless backstabbers who would sell their granny to get further up the career ladder--

[lljkk]

I don't have a senior job.
But I've been told that I speak with too many big words! And I've realised belatedly that many people don't understand big words.
I don't see what intelligence has to do with respect; you should be civil & respectful towards everyone regardless of their job or relative status or relative intelligence.
People like cleaners and admin staff are the grease that keeps the wheels turning. it's in my best interests to be nice to them, anyway.

[WhereDoAllTheCalculatorsGo]

Chottie that's a very good point about people's change in attitude. There's a couple of people that I work with who interact with me in a completely different way since they found out what I used to do.

[VodkaJelly]

I work for an IT company and a woman of about 24 started working here also. She once exclaimed very loudly that she couldnt belive that the company employed people without a degree.

But of course her non IT related degree got her a job here, or maybe it was because Daddy was a golfing buddy of the Managing Director.

I might not have a degree but I got my job on my own merits.