I've never seen any evidence that House expects to be liked.

I'm going throw in with Cashmere and the others, and vote for telling HR, or at least her boss.

She doesn't really have *A* boss. It would have to be HR.

I think I'll see how she is when I get back from lunch before I go to them. Aw man.

I love House the character, because he says all the bad stuff many of us think, and in amusing ways. And Laurie kicks ass as an actor. I could not be around House for five minutes in real life without killing him, but it's TV. I feel the same way about Al Swearingen in Deadwood.

Or Richard III, for that matter.

Archie Bunker got called on his behavior and it always came back inside the half hour to bite him in the ass

But he never learnt!

As I said, nothing that bothers me now, and really, unlearning is key in most sitcoms. But as a kid it drove me bonkers.

Okay, now I'm waiting for co-worker to make a call and name the dead person...and she did, and mumbled the name. Oy.

eta:

I love House the character, because he says all the bad stuff many of us think, and in amusing ways.

Ah, see, I don't think what he says. He likes to hurt people.

And since she's been here only two months its not 'trouble' I'm worried about but 'fired'. We're probationary for ninety days.

Or Richard III, for that matter.

Yeah.

There's a certain element of "This is what I would do, if I weren't handicapped by being so nice." (pause for all the Buffistas to snicker.)

House may have a few ass-bite moments, but they're not enough to humble him.

I may like Laurie too much to be objective, but my take on House is that he wants everyone to hate him because he hates himself. He's the epitome of the angry child acting out, looking for attention, even if it's negative attention. Plus, he is smart, and often smarter than most other people in the room, which gets reinforced over and over again. Then there's his "everybody lies" theory, which oozes into everyone having ulterior motives and less than noble aims, which also gets reinforced when he treats everyone like garbage and they still keep him around.

t /amateur psychoanalyzing

"This is what I would do, if I weren't handicapped by being so nice."

Yeah, House isn't my dark side, not even slightly. My dark side shoves House's pills up his ass, with the cane, which I leave there.

Trudy, can you get a snack with her or something and talk to her, try to assess a little more?

The difference with House is that he's so damned used to being right that it's harder for people to call him out on his behavior. House may have a few ass-bite moments, but they're not enough to humble him.

This, and there's very little externally that can make him more miserable than he already makes himself.

I love the show, formulaicity, implausibility and all.

eta:

I may like Laurie too much to be objective, but my take on House is that he wants everyone to hate him because he hates himself. He's the epitome of the angry child acting out, looking for attention, even if it's negative attention. Plus, he is smart, and often smarter than most other people in the room, which gets reinforced over and over again. Then there's his "everybody lies" theory, which oozes into everyone having ulterior motives and less than noble aims, which also gets reinforced when he treats everyone like garbage and they still keep him around.

AmyLiz's take is mine.