Howabout assclowns? Where do they fit into the scheme of things?
Or fucktards, for that matter.
Dennis Miller, back in his salad ranty days, defined tool thusly:
A guy driving a Hummer in the desert is using a tool. A guy driving it anywhere else IS a tool.
I suppose the difference is do you think you are better than that asshole or do you think that douchebag thinks he’s better than you.
I like the succintness of this, but would argue that Tool works better than Asshole in your sentence.
D’bags are A’holes in training.
This is how I’ve come to define it. Intent versus attitude.
The utility guy had absolutely no way of knowing what was going to happen - he was just there to find the lines, not dig any holes. His response was garbage because a) he didn’t know the answer, b) he acted like he knew the answer and c) was dismissive of my neighbor because he acted like *everyone *should know the answer.
They’re the people driving around me. 
George Carlin said, “Anyone who drives slower than you is an idiot. Anyone who drives faster than you is a maniac.”
Only two douchebags will fit into a VW bug, whereas eight assclowns will.
If they are *no-talent *assclowns, they may be on stage violating “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” 
PC LOAD LETTER? What the fuck does that mean?
I refer to an asshole as NED (nasty, evil and disgusting), and a douchebag as SAL (stupid, arrogant, and lazy).
An asshole weaves in and out and tailgates, all while going nowhere.
A douchebag parks their marginally nice car over two spaces, hogging an extra one.
Sometimes, douchebags turn me into an asshole.
Douchebags make me want to punch them right in their stupid faces.
Assholes make me want to verbally tear them a new one and humuliate them to for all the world to see.
So I conclude from this analysis that stupidity is the primary driver for douchebags while ego is the prevailing driver for assholes.
I didn’t get that from the exchange. He’s being asked a question way outside his expertise by a worried homeowner and he’s trying to give a cogent answer based on his opinion. The fact that he’s somewhat emphatic about about the answer is no more silly or rude than your neighbor having the expectation he was going to have some useful answer in the first place. What you perceive as the brusque and direct tone of his conversation simply the usual way a lot or working people and tradesman talk.
I think your sensitivity meter is dialed up to 11 in this exchange.
Douchebags aren’t necessarily assholes. Take Guy Fieri for example, who many people on this board consider to be a grade-A douchebag (I seem to recall there was even a thread dedicated to the topic of his douchiness).
For all his douchiness though, he doesn’t strike me as particularly assholish. He’s just some guy who’s trying too hard to be cool, has an atrocious fashion sense and comes off as really grating in the process.
I agree. You can have one without the other. ‘Asshole’ implies mostly aggression. ‘Douchebag’ suggests mostly arrogance and self-centeredness to the point where it is flaunted. A common rude person can be an asshole without being a douche especially if they are just coarse and boorish. A good douchebag can intrude on you by projecting who they are through general style.