Stupidity

It seems having grown up with two engineers for parents who have always insisted that "I've forgotten more than you'll ever learn" and that their intelligence is far beyond my own, and then having gone to a semi-private, highly-regarded high school have given me the misperception that elders and people who outrank me are, by default, smart. This, as I have learned this summer, is not so.
It started when I wrote the following lead on a style article: "_____ is a typical 13-year-old boy. He likes to read Harry Potter, ride his bike and play his sheep-skin bagpipe."
My editor, in her infinite wisdom sat me down and very seriously explained that it is not typical for a 13-year-old boy to play a sheepskin bagpipe, or any bagpipe for that matter. This is when I realized my editor is an idiot.
This escalated today.
ME: Is there a preferred way to spell encased/incased?
Copy editor: Encased. The latter is not a word.
ME: Oh, dictionary.com said it was with the same meaning. OK thanks. Copy editor: Maybe, but no dictionary I've ever read. Encased.
^That is the exact conversation, copy and pasted. How many dictionaries does he read? It doesnt help that the man has the tiniest, most bruised, sensitive ego in the world which leads him to snap to maintain what he thinks is dignity. If I say "Hey copy editor, isnt is 'more than' not 'over'?" (Which, I know it is) he will take me aside and tell me not to correct him -- He knows what he's doing. I know this because that exact situation happened.
I have less than two weeks left and I'm excited to leave. For such a small paper it has a lot of ego and a lot of crazy.