Seriously in Second Chances hes an asshole to himself, in addition hes a dick to his subordinates and I don't like his smug sleazy grin. If some lieutenant, in this case himself, or a commander like Shelby had a great idea they would present to Picard, he'd have a fit about it and say, any cool ideas you have, you run by me so I can shoot them down. He did this so as not to look incompetent or lazy in front of Picard and justifieid it by saying that he didn't want to take unnecessary risks. This is why he never made captain in the shows run.
Back on topic a bit, I don't see how one can view him as a dick.... especially based on the above example.
The whole reason why Will gave Tom issues in that episode is mostly to do with being face to face with not just himself, but his past self.
There are now two of him, with two slightly different personalities.... his personality, and the old personality of when he was younger and still had more of a thing for Troi. Tom Riker represented to Will another person very much like him, who has the opportunity to do things he couldn't do because he decided to go career with his life.
Not only that, but now he wasn't the only Will Riker in the universe but two.... having your "Uniqueness" stripped away from you out of nowhere will put anybody on the defense.
It's like facing your own possible replacement who might do things better then you.... or might do worse then you.... either way, they're a complication to the mark you place in history.
It's like suddenly finding out you have a twin brother who's now basically trying to out shine you.
And at the same time, Tom Riker is giving much of the same attitude (they are the same person with the same frame of mind/personality afterall) where now he's entering a world he thought only had himself in it, but found out that there's this other Riker who's been living his life all this time, while he's been left abandoned on a planet alone for so long.
And now he has pre-existing shoes he has to fill.... shoes filled by himself already.
It wasn't just Will Riker being a jerk, but it was also Tom Riker being a jerk back..... and both kind of had their own justifications for doing so.
As it goes for being a jerk for telling LaForge to do something in half the time he said he needed.... Picard did that more then Riker ever did.
To just claim Riker is a Dick because of how he conducts himself as 1st officer, I find that a bit short sighted, as when it's personal or off duty, he's usually helping, caring and generous to those around him.... not to mention flirty to the ladies.
I never once thought of him as being a jerk or a "Dick"
