# Worse boss: Kathryn Janeway or Greg House? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183 "2010-05-12T16:08:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/1 "2010-05-12T16:08:04Z")
Give your reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/2 "2010-05-12T16:14:01Z")
Janeway is incompetent, and places her often-idiosyncratic morals above the health and safety of her crew fairly often. Serving under Janeway has an excellent chance of giving someone a nasty case of death. House is merely unpleasant. If I’m working for him, my relationships may suffer, and I may even get into legal trouble - but (with very rare exceptions) he won’t put my life in danger. Further, the guy is outstanding at his job - Janeway can’t say the same. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/3 "2010-05-12T16:19:33Z")
Janeway seems to have the bonus of being theoretically benevolent. House will fuck with you like (insert appropriate metaphor here). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/4 "2010-05-12T16:20:58Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Janeway is incompetent, and places her often-idiosyncratic morals above the health and safety of her crew fairly often. Serving under Janeway has an excellent chance of giving someone a nasty case of death. > > House is merely unpleasant. If I’m working for him, my relationships may suffer, and I may even get into legal trouble - but (with very rare exceptions) he won’t put my life in danger. Further, the guy is outstanding at his job - Janeway can’t say the same. My thoughts are similar. Hell, if you don’t want to do what House tells you because it’s dangerous or illegal, just don’t do it. The worst he can do is fire you, and I can’t believe that having “fired by Greg House” on your resume is going to look all that bad to anyone who actually knows House. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/5 "2010-05-12T16:21:47Z")
I think House would be an interesting person to know, and tolerable to work for. That opinion may be partly due to my sharing some personality traits with the man. Janeway’s incompetent, indecisive, and could have had her crew back in the Alpha Quadrant in a week if she’d been more flexible. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/6 "2010-05-12T16:23:58Z")
Janeway has probably forgotten more medical and scientific knowledge than House ever dreamt of knowing, and assuming Janeway did get you killed, there’s a better than zero chance she’d time travel and bring your ass back. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/7 "2010-05-12T16:30:19Z")
Dittoing **Mr. Excellent**. House is nasty and capricious, but at least it’s unlikely you’ll end up dead, though if you do, it’ll probably be by your own hand. Plus, he’s brilliant and you should end up being better at your own job than you were thanks to working in his crucible and by learning from him (including how _not_ to behave). Janeway is the worse of the two because she’s smug without any reason to be, and a hypocrite who both wraps the Federation’s superiority around her like a mantle, and ditches her hifalutin’ principles when she chooses with a cold lack of remorse that’d do the Third Reich proud. (I still blame her for Tuvix and the later torture scene that now escapes my memory.) Plus, she’s just so damn _boring_. House is rarely dull. Points to House right there! ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/8 "2010-05-12T16:35:09Z")
I love Janeway. I hate House. Btw, it’s Lupus. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/9 "2010-05-12T16:35:44Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Dittoing **Mr. Excellent**. House is nasty and capricious, but at least it’s unlikely you’ll end up dead, though if you do, it’ll probably be by your own hand. Plus, he’s brilliant and you should end up being better at your own job than you were thanks to working in his crucible and by learning from him (including how _not_ to behave). > > Janeway is the worse of the two because she’s smug without any reason to be, and a hypocrite who both wraps the Federation’s superiority around her like a mantle, and ditches her hifalutin’ principles when she chooses with a cold lack of remorse that’d do the Third Reich proud. (I still blame her for Tuvix and the later torture scene that now escapes my memory.) > > Plus, she’s just so damn _boring_. House is rarely dull. Points to House right there! I feel obliged to point out that Kate Mulgrew was kinda hot. What’s-her-name on House is hotter, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/10 "2010-05-12T16:49:14Z")
Janeway was a little eager to hit the self-destruct button at times. I don’t recall House ever seriously suggesting the solution was to torch the hospital, though I’m admittedly not a regular viewer. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/11 "2010-05-12T16:52:51Z")
You can actually beat House is you simply refuse to take his shit - everything he pust people through is more or less solely because they _let him get away with it_. I’m sure that if you simply made it clear you weren’t going to deal with any nonsense, life would go pretty smooth. He screws with people’s heads because they tolerate it. With Janeway, you’d have to assassinate her. Though nobody’s care. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/12 "2010-05-12T16:56:25Z")
Well, if the best thing about House is that he’s fine if you don’t listen to him, then it’s safe to say he’d be a horrible starship captain, trying to get several hundred people 1/4 the way around the galaxy more or less in one piece. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/13 "2010-05-12T17:00:09Z")
How the heck did Janeway get promoted to admiral before Picard? Looks like affirmative action is alive and well in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/14 "2010-05-12T17:00:30Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > You can actually beat House is you simply refuse to take his shit - everything he pust people through is more or less solely because they _let him get away with it_. I’m sure that if you simply made it clear you weren’t going to deal with any nonsense, life would go pretty smooth. He screws with people’s heads because they tolerate it. > > With Janeway, you’d have to assassinate her. Though nobody’s care. That last sentence is untrue. You might be able to convince Tuvok it was necessary, but Seven will kill you for it. Kill you real good. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/15 "2010-05-12T17:06:37Z")
I wouldn’t mind either. House would be tough on me, but he’d also be fun. Janeway didn’t bother me one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/16 "2010-05-12T17:08:06Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > How the heck did Janeway get promoted to admiral before Picard? Looks like affirmative action is alive and well in the future. Politics. After bringing her crew back alive, Janeway would have been golden in the public eye; thus Starfleet dared not court-martial her despite the 89,641 separate reasons to do so. But nor could she be left in command of a starship. So they made her an admiral, put her in charge of R & D, and quietly circulated instructions to all captains that, if she ever gave them an order they felt obliged to disobey, there would be no repercussions whatsodamnever. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/17 "2010-05-12T17:12:30Z")
It’s never lupus. I KNOW House would make me cry and quit the first day. I’d take my chances with Janeway. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/18 "2010-05-12T17:16:08Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Politics. After bringing her crew back alive, Janeway would have been golden in the public eye; thus Starfleet dared not court-martial her despite the 89,641 separate reasons to do so. But nor could she be left in command of a starship. So they made her an admiral, put her in charge of R & D, and quietly circulated instructions to all captains that, if she ever gave them an order they felt obliged to disobey, there would be no repercussions whatsodamnever. She shut the Borg down. I think she could have kept the warp core going by feeding it live kittens and puppies and she’d still deserve admiral. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/19 "2010-05-12T17:20:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Janeway’s incompetent, indecisive, and could have had her crew back in the Alpha Quadrant in a week if she’d been more flexible. Or if she’d been less flexible. The only reason they weren’t able to return at the end of the pilot episode is that she thought it was so highfalutin’ essential to violate the Prime Directive instead. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183/20 "2010-05-12T17:21:07Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Janeway has probably forgotten more medical and scientific knowledge than House ever dreamt of knowing, and assuming Janeway did get you killed, there’s a better than zero chance she’d time travel and bring your ass back. Not if you are wearing a red shirt. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-boss-kathryn-janeway-or-greg-house/539183.md?page=2)