Aspies For Freedom

There are a lot of four-letter words in here, because I was frustrated when I wrote it.  It's been cross-posted to a couple of other places online, so apologies for any repetition.

I complied with the rules at work (well, mostly) and stopped bringing in headphones. Instead, I now bring in a small boombox that runs on batteries.

Now my supes are saying that they'll have to ban all radios from small sort (the area where I work) because there have been so many complaints about my radio, specifically its volume. I have turned it down, but I can only turn it down so low before I can't hear it. And if none of the guys who are complaining like death metal, it's not my problem.

The thing is, I actually took requests from one of the guys whom I know is complaining. He'd say he didn't like something, so I would change it to something we both like. And then I'd let the rest of the playlist continue unless he asked for something else that I had. This has happened a few times. I think that part of it bothers me, that he's being a dick about this when: 1. he and I work different belts 95% of the time and 2. I've been pretty good about accommodating requests from him. I'm guessing the other guy who works with him (I generally get to work by myself because I've made that preference clear, so that normally isn't an issue except when it's totally unreasonable for me to handle an entire belt's worth of flow) is also complaining. I've also got the feeling that guy #1 doesn't like me anyway, which is his problem.

Thanks for the suggestions. The safety issue, I've been told, is me having anything on my ears at all. Yet I've come in wearing bright orange earplugs before and no one said anything, so it's electronics that are on-ear, I'm guessing. It's cold enough now that I can sneak in earbuds without burning up, but the weather will warm up in a few days and that doesn't solve the problem for good.

I'm hoping the union steward will just say that the others have to suck it up and deal with it, honestly. I got the initial okay from him and from the sort manager (one of the head honchos) and he said 'I don't care how big it is, as long as it's battery-operated, bring a radio in and listen to your music that way...'

What is most bothersome of all about this is that I was given permission (hell, even encouragement) to bring it in and now they're going back on that. I kept my end of the bargain; I've not brought in headphones. Worst-case, I'll dig up a copy of the Master Agreement and see if anything would pertain to this. I'm not going to use ADA except in a worst-case scenario because it would mean trying to get an appointment to my pdoc, whom I only see once a month and getting him to fill out all the necessary paperwork.

Lastly, and this is the smallest part of it, we had a radio that could be heard even if you went down the steps to the general hub area, where the trucks are parked. It was tuned to some 'lite-rock' station. Four hours of that shit every goddamn night had me feeling like someone had put my brain into a blender for several hours and then poured it back into my skull. It was a miserable situation for me. I didn't say a word, except jokingly to my supe. The higher-ups took it down right before peak, only because it was plugged in. I found a solution of my own, which is when I started bringing in headphones, and no one complained about that. Even then, when I worked right up under the damn thing, I could still hear it.

The longer I stay at UPS, the more I realize that the sciences and/or entrepreneurial pursuits are best suited for my temperament. The worst part of it is realizing that it's not the work that's a problem, it's personality conflicts and having a hard time dealing with the social aspects of work. I do miss being thrown into a truck and going at it without someone else within 10 feet of me, too.

One of the hazmat guys at work, whom I talk to fairly often, suggested that perhaps it was the music itself and not the volume that was the problem. That may be, but I loathe most stuff that's played on the radio, so I'd still be losing out if I switched to radio.

Any solutions, short of quitting? I know that deliberately misloading is not the most ideal solution, but I feel backed into a corner. I'm probably going to call in tonight because I'm sick of all of it.

Not sure, but I had trouble with a woman playing her radio next to me. It wasn't all that loud but it couldn't be tuned properly to the station and the distorted noise drove me nuts.

The Human Resource person said I had a mental problem because I was the "only one it annoyed" (despite another woman saying to me it bothered her too).

Radios were since banned and that has made me unpopular with some people as they seem to think it was my fault. We are allowed to wear headphones now.

All I can suggest is find the documentation that you could bring in your ear phones and see the union rep to work something out. I can't see why it would be so unsafe to have ear phones.

More frustration at work today regarding noise. There is a group of women who regularly hoot and cackle and make a lot of noise generally during tea breaks. I found it trying when we were on another floor and because it has been pouring with rain the last few days, it has got a lot worse.

Today it was very bad and I went to the toilet to escape it and was crying for a few minutes. Then I came back out and was talking to a co-worker and asked if she was finding the noise bad? She said "is it getting to you?" -  I said "Yes" and she said "come over and do some of the crossword puzzle".

Our boss brought in some crossword puzzles and we are currently doing a 1000 piece puzzle. I thought that was a very nice idea of his.

Anyway, the worst offender is a women who supposedly has a bad back. I think if it were so bad, she wouldn't be hooting so much because all the vibration would be aggravating her back. She also complained about a male co-worker making noise in the next team and he is only about 1/10 as noisy as her. He does complain a lot though.

There is a woman across the partition from me. Yesterday, she was farting around with something on her computer which played a bit of "You're The One That I Want" really loudly and suddenly and so I jumped and shouted "oh shit"! but I don't know if she and her mates heard.

I hate that song at the best of times as it is one of the top 10 crappest songs of all time but if people want to play it quietly that's fine with me.

One of the ladies in my team very kindly bought me some earplugs which I put in this afternoon. Then I was having trouble with the space bar on my computer keyboard and was whacking it to get the fluff out. Another lady came up to me and said "please be careful hitting your keyboard as k is on the phone". That's why I was wearing the plugs as her phone manner pisses me right off - she sounds patronising and bossy and I don't like it.

Plus, she was the one playing that stupid song yesterday. Anyway, it was a fair cop and I said I was sorry, I was trying to stop the space bar from sticking.

The boss is away but at least one group of annoying people will be going to another floor in a few days so that will help. There is another woman (the same one who had the bung clock radio that annoyed the hell out of me a few years ago) in my team and she is irritating enough so that I feel like slapping her.

She is as common as mud but talks in this fake posh accent. She has pretensions of being smart but isn't all that bright really. Too bad she wasn't going upstairs but hopefully she will get moved at some stage.

Rant over for now and I think the upshot of it is I don't cope well with noise and thank goodness there are some nice and helpful people as well as irritating and aggravating ones.

She sounds awful!

I suppose it was partly a case of needing a break too. Maybe anywhere we are there will be some annoying people. Since I got a higher dose of one of the medications, I have a bit more tolerance of annoyances but still find loud and persistent noises an issue hard to cope with.