god, flashbacks. i was in Academia for 10 years. learned a lot. met great people. but holy shit, the professional environment was so fucking toxic with some of the worst humanoids.

i loaned a book to a tenured faculty (i thought was a friend) once and like two years later i asked if could get it back and they snapped at me, out of nowhere, that they already returned it a long time ago. i apologized, i looked around for it, never found it and just assumed i lost it somewhere. another year goes by, they put it on my desk without so much as a fucking word.

ive also been in a meeting once where someone screamed at me for doing my job because it made them look out of touch (they were lmao) to external partners. in front of their own boss. and i wasn't doing it on purpose, which was clear. they had been on HRs radar for bullying junior staff for a year at that point, but never a consequence. they drove half a dozen staff to quit, some to suicidal ideation and counseling. they still work there and are allowed to hire/fire young scientists.

ive met some real assholes in the corporate world, working for small business tyrants, and in public service... but the academy could fabricate some truly entitled and childish monstrosities and let them run their little fiefs however they wanted.