In the IT world, dealing with co-workers who are, shall we say, "difficult", isn't exactly out of the ordinary. If you work in a situation where you have a lot of contact with end users (can you say "help desk?"), it's more than likely that you've been yelled at by an unreasonable user on at least one occasion. The truth of the matter is that such users are simply an occupational hazard that comes with the territory in IT. If you don't learn how to deal with them properly, however, nightmare users could sap your productivity and reduce your performance at work. To that end, Robert Sutton has written a book, colorfully titled, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't. In an interview with the author, ComputerWorld reveals a few tips for dealing with difficult co-workers and building better work relationships.

For more on dealing with jerks:
- see this ComputerWorld article