>Of course, you and I know that the latter is just a general form of the former, but somebody whose educational attainments have qualified them to sit behind a desk stamping passports doesn’t.
Sure, insulting people behind their back is unethical. So is the treatment OP was subjected to.
If an officer is being disrespectful and you dislike him, that's fine. If he's being disrespectful and you immediately think "Look at this idiot, if only he knew what kind of degrees I had" you've likely got a problem.
When someone is a jerk to you you tend to react to that. This may be irrational but that's the way most people work and it is perfectly natural.
Easy to be righteous when you are not the one who was wronged.