Aspies For Freedom

I just thought I'd do a poll to find out the longest time everyone has ever held down a job.  It doesn't matter if the job is part-time or full-time.

So far, the longest I've had a job for is 2 and a half years - that was when I was working on a casual, part-time contract at the local sorting office, whilst I was studying at university.  This job came to an end because back in January they decided to get rid of all their Saturday morning casual staff on the early shift.  I wasn't too upset, because my final year exams were getting near, and so I had more time to prepare for them and do my coursework.

My current (full time permanent) job has lasted me 6 months so far, although I was an agency temp for the first 5 months of it.

I've had a job exactly 6 months before being fired.

Wonder which one to vote under.  3 to 6 months or 6 to 12 months.

Oh dear, I didn't think of that  :!: Just put it under 6 to 12 months.  :wink:

Sixteen years in the one job before I quit to spend primary school years with my daughter.  Although perhaps it can't be viewed as a single job, exactly, as I worked for several different departments of the one entity (National Library of Australia) over the sixteen years.  
Alison

I have never been able to maintain employment without being fired. I've been fired from two different jobs for not smiling enough, in another case it was due to my inability to teach fitness in time with a musical beat, in another case it was due to the errors I made during clerical tasks, and in another case I really really struggled hard to keep up with the job but could not survive the bullying that a co-worker inflicted on me. I lasted the longest in the job where I was bullied - a little over 12 months - and that was only because I allowed this bully to get her entertainment out of treating me very badly. Eventually I won a human rights case against that employer and the co-worker.

The only job I had,was when I was 16,my sister offered me it as they needed some help due to other staff leaving,I knew all of them well,so thought I would try it but couldn't handle it,the boss told my sister I was 'slow' and stupid,so I was there for the grand total of one day.

Stella, what a horrible man. There is a surreal aspect to the cruelty we experience in the workplace sometimes, isn't there? It is where the most direct discrimination gets inflicted. However, I am so glad that you didn't have to spend a long part of your life sorting jelly boxes. You are far too wonderfully talented to fit into an environment like that!

I once worked for social services in reception. At one office I had these two bosses Brenda and Nancy. Both women had matching wash and wear perms. Brenda and Nancy also wore matching clothes to work each day. They both wore polyester slacks with shapeless t-shirts. Brenda and Nancy seemed to be related to each other, through their husbands. In my memory I think of them as twins. This was a welfare office that served the poorest part of our city and provided income assistance. Each day I had various heartrendering events in the reception area such as sick people throwing up, children crying from hunger and abuse, people in the last throes of life attempting to get a last cheque, deranged men sobbing on the reception desk and sometimes gun and bomb threats were made. I felt a great and overwhelming sympathy to these people. However, I had no ability to help them, my job was only to process the first part of their  application forms. And the twins Brenda and Nancy punished any humane impulses in the office staff and rewarded cruelty as they worked to uphold the rules of governmental administration. As part of my service to the clients there were a hundred different forms I was supposed to sort out. Due to my then unrecognized disabilities I could not prevent myself from making errors each day. In my first six months the twins told me everyday that they would have to tell the district supervisor to fire me because I made "too many mistakes". Every workday for months I was told time was almost up before I was to be let go. I wanted desperately to maintain some form of employment and the job meant alot to me. By the time six months had passed I had become an alcoholic and developed an anxiety disorder!  

It was not the place that I was meant to be and I should have quit long before I was finally let go but in those days I did not know I was disabled, and as a person deemed employable I would not have been eligible for income assistance!

Strange how I can tell the counsellor that I have auditory processing problems:
I communicate with the workers at the centre by e-mail, letter or actually bringing a list of written questions (when I first came there)

-  and they will still send me to interviews for jobs like "telephone banking customer service".  

If I am desperate enough for money I will try the job but I know I will be let go after a few months but at least I will have made some money out of it.

I have a very patchy employment history, which makes it hard to get another job.

I have never lasted for more than 15 months in a job and I always either get sacked or just don't go back. The usual problems of 'not fitting in' are cited. Also, I get stressed very easily, especially when unpredictable things happen or I am expected to work far faster than is comfortable. Then there is the inevitable bully culture of the workplace.

What sort of job was that (the one who sacked you after 5 weeks)?  It horrifies me that an employer could do such a thing.  Apart from fitting in, did you succeed in all the other aspects of the job?  Was it a role where communication was essential?

I personally think that the employer should have sat down with you and discussed possible solutions (such as training in communication skills) rather than just sacking you.

I worked at the fast food restaurant, Taco Hell....er, um....Bell during my college years for a little over five years.  I, of course, went through bullying from everyone including managers, co-workers and customers and with the noisy, busy nature of a fast food restaurant, all my AS symptoms were magnified ten-fold.  After graduation, I got another job at a call center.  However, the business closed a year later.  Same thing happened three months into my next job, which was at a hotel that had been at the same location for 48 years.  

After six more years of lay-offs, quitting a good job due to lack of reliable transportation, a job that gave me a nervous breakdown that landed me in the hospital and a temp assignment that ended because I "gave out the wrong information to a customer",  I'm back at Taco Bell where I started and hopefully, maybe I can keep this job for a little while.  :roll:

That sounds like when I started in the pulic service - I had a manager who timed coffee breaks and she gave me the stare of death because I had the temerity to return 30 seconds late. It was because they sent me out to buy morning teas for the audit staff and I got confused working out who was supposed to get what change. I never had my own break either.

About three years ago, I was considering suing for harassment where I worked and was encouraged by the union rep. However, she later changed her mind and said I should work in with the boss who was harassing me. Luckily, I didn't pursue anything as I would have been left high and dry.

If it is really bad, it could be worth suing but as long as the worker is aware it is a long and stressful process and could be expensive. I know of another woman who was having hassles with the same boss as me and with another boss.

She sued and was told she had a case but to proceed any further would have cost a lot of money that she didn't have. She ended up leaving as her health was really suffering. Another man I know of was suing the employer but I don't know how his case went as I haven't seen him for two years.

At the moment, the UK national minimum wage is £5.35 an hour.  It is increased every year.  If Amyt was earning £1.20 an hour, it was probably many years ago.

I'm afraid I don't like to give out details of my employer to anyone on the internet, as I don't want to risk being personally identified.  I know it might sound paranoid, but I hope you will understand. Suffice to say, I work in the insurance industry, and have done so since graduation.

When I started off as a temp, I was mainly doing very mundane work, such as data entry and checking data matches up on different systems.  Although it was a bit boring, I stuck it out because I noticed that other co-workers who had been there longer were doing more interesting work and I wanted to eventually be doing their sort of work.

Sure enough, a few months later I was taken on permanently (I still had to have an interview though) and I started doing more complex work, such as creating databases, analysing data and creating reports. At one point I also did a brief stint of software user acceptance testing, which was fun!