Aspies For Freedom

I don't really know if I am aspergers, but I seem to have a lot of the traits and so does my dad. I lack social skills, but I think this has a lot to do with the fact that I don't trust people cos I was bullied in secondry school. So I lack social skills, is it ok for me to be here?

After my last bullying experience, and not being able to fullfill my job as a result I have little confidence I can suceed at anything.

I have this great desire to work with people, maybe because I feel very detached, but I also want to just lock my self in a room and work queitly by myself.  Anyway, enough sob storys.

There seems to be a lot of people having bad work experiences here.
I'd be interested to hear of  success stories, and what kind of work people here enjoy and find rewarding?

I worked as a loans officer, settlement clerk, Level two Public Servant, assistant manager, etc.
I now clean at an abbatoir. I love the autonomy and routine. No stress and no pressure.

Despite my lack of social skills, I worked for many years with people, first as a nursing assistant/orderly, then as a registered nurse. Often stressful, yes. Often a lot of pressure, yes.

However, it just dawned on me that, most of the time, I was pretty much in charge of every situation.  I did not need to be afraid of the patients, since they posed no sort of threat to me.
( Why didn't this occur to me years ago?)

The work was very fufilling. It made me happy to see people get better and leave the hospital.
There were times of grief, too, when there were patients for whom we could do nothing but ease their pain. There were frustrating patients who did not wish to give up their drug and alcohol habits.

It was always a pleasure to have someone come up to me somewhere in town and tell me that his knee was so much better that he could run again, or that she was no longer suicidal  or that he had not had a drop of alcohol for a year, or getting a bear hug from a child. These were such great rewards! That doesn't make me great and wonderful or anything like that, just grateful that I could help somebody, as I myself have been helped by others.

My second favorite job, years before I became a nurse, was working as a janitor in an elementary school  (K-4) with children from five to ten years of age. I loved the kids and felt so empty after they all left in the afternoon. I got into trouble a few times by joining games which the kids were playing, or even starting games which somehow turned into minor riots.
Guess I am still a kid at heart.

My favourite job was cleaning at college after classes and they would let me work full-time during school holidays.  I love to work alone.  I got to clean and tidy classrooms and listen to music.  I also got a great workout.  The pay was good too.  

Other jobs, I only liked the working alone tasks of them.  I do not know why I can never find another good cleaning or working alone job again.  Every single job order on the government job site lists "working with others, good communication skills".  Also I have higher education so people seem to ask about it even if it is a fast food counter job or store clerk and then they never hire me.

I wouldn't worry too much about "good communication skills" being on the job description.  It was on the job descriptions for my last 2  roles, and I have managed OK even though my (oral) communication skills are below average.  It seems to me like it's one of those buzzwords which is always put on job descriptions as a matter of course, regardless of whether it's really relevant.

I don't understand why someone would need good communication skills to be a cleaner.  If you are working in a team, you would probably only need to speak to the others in order to confirm which areas/rooms you have cleaned so far, so that they don't duplicate your work, or to decide who's going to clean which room.  Other than that, I assume you wouldn't have to speak to them unless you wanted to.

I am having great difficulty here, because having left university, having not finished my degree because I simply couldnt deal with the people and the regime, I cannot think of anything jobwise that doesnt sound mundane and repetitive to me. My ideal job would be writing... just being able to write in my own time...or anything else that wasn't 9-5 or being told what to do...one thing I am no good at is being told what to do by someone else. Is this a common issue among as?

My perfect job would be one where I didn't have to interact with people, could work at my own pace, didn't need alot of organisation and most importantly which interested me. If I am not interested in something I really hate doing it.

Unfortunatly I don't think such a job exists so I am willing to compomise slightly, as long as the employer knows that I am not going to be the best socially or with organisation.

Assistant General Manager...no Assistant TO THE General Manager ;p

lol jk, i dunno i'm going for office work at the moment, business admin.


the drop outs coming back on top >3

Been a software engineer / inventor since 1984...can't imagine doing anything else.

Graewyn, not liking to be told what to do IS common amongst aspies. We tend to respect people for who they are, rather than for what their title is. We will do lots for bosses we respect but as little as possible for people we think are fools.

I do best at jobs where I can work either on my own or with one or two others I get along with well to clear up a big mess eg. filing that hasn't been done properly for years or getting documents ready for destruction.

Before Christmas, I put up a lot of Christmas decorations at work and covered a cardboard box with Christmas paper-mache so the decorations could be put away in a nice box.

One of my colleagues asked me to decorate her workspace and then asked me to decorate another colleague's desk. Sadly, he never got to see his decorations as he was sick for over a week and then we had to pack up as we are shifting to a different floor in the building next month.

I was going to take some pictures for him but as we work with secure documents, I might not have been allowed. Anyway, the decision was taken out of my hands as someone else packed his stuff away.

The decorations were in a tangled mess and took a lot of untangling and sorting. This is the kind of job I like.

I would also like to work in a charity clothes shop, sorting and putting out stock.

WRITING. ABSOLUTELY NUMBER ONE.

I also spent some time as an outworker, making little craft toys and working from home. It paid an absolute pittance, but it was actually enjoyable.

Also, I enjoyed being a professional driver until it got boring. Now I work as a dispatcher, and that's quite enjoyable too. I get to be on my own a lot and have lots of challenge.

I don't know for how long it will remain enjoyable. (I've never really focused on anything but writing for more than a year.) but it should be good for a little while to come.

Most of my jobs I've had in my life I've hated. The majority of them have been fast food or retail jobs.

There has been one retail job that I actually loved. I miss it too. It was at Natural Wonders. I worked there for 2 years during the holidays. And even though it was during that mad time of year, the atmosphere was always calm. Maybe it was the Enya or winter solstic music playing in the background.

I did have to communicate with customers though. I would get so nervous because that was a big part of the job. But I felt rewarded that the customers liked me. Even a few used to ask if I was working on commission (which I wasn't). They liked that I had knowledge of the products we sold. I do miss that store. There's none like it around here anymore.

Another job that was deemed acceptable was working alone at a dry cleaner pickup. Being alone I got freedom. And I'd only have about 4 customers a day. I was taking a writing course at the time so I would be able to bring my study material to work with me and get a lot of homework done. I did have some problems though and that wasn't with the job itself. I had a stalker there. A customer (about 50-60 years old) who would call up the store to see if I was there or stop by for no reason at all...Another was one of the other workers robbed and trashed the store one time and everyone had to go the police station for questioning which scared me out of my mind. I've been afraid of police ever since. I ended up having to quit when my mom had to have surgery and I needed to help care for my ailing grandmother when my mom was unable to.

But one of the best jobs of all was this past spring. I got to be in the orchestra of a musical called "Urinetown" at the local university. This would be my first paying job at playing the bass. I was paid almost a grand for it. And it was only a 2 week run. Nothing beats doing what you love and getting paid for it.

I've always wanted to be a stores keeper or work in a ware house. I like the task oriented nature of it. I suppose I should find out how to get a Folk-Lift licence and then apply for a job in a ware-house!

I think I'd be a good service receptionist in a car dealers aswell.

Really I'd like no job just the salary!

Silky, I like your comment about putting all the unusual words in the memos to your boss who gave you a hard time about your spelling.