Aspies For Freedom

Has the characteristics of Asperger's ever caused you to lose your job?

I lost my first and only job (at an aquarium and reptile store) because I didn't get along with the owner very well, and because I was only working part-time when the store couldn't afford part time employees. I cared more about the animals and teaching people how to properly care for them than I did about the money, and he was the exact opposite. He lived in Texas, though, so I only had to deal with him a few times a year (I got along with the other employees fine, but I never got involved in all their drama). When I was laid-off, I was about to quit anyway because I was extremely busy with school and college applications and that stuff.

I need to get another job this summer.

Also, though, I'd thought I should mention that I held my first job for over two and a half years, which is a long time for someone in high school. It's not like I was only working there for a few months.

I lost teaching jobs due to meltdowns and/or "not fitting in". Not smiling and saying hello was mentioned the second time. I quit 2 other schools because the kids were so indisciplined that my noise sensitivity drove me into a corner or to meltdowns. I was only diagnosed in December, so for all of those jobs I didn't know that I had AS. Just thought I was being persecuted for being me.

I've never really worked at a job that was suitable for my talents.

At my last full-time job I was phased into a new position with little training or support. I didn't know what I was doing and there wasn't any real help to be found. Eventually I was so frustrated that I became ill. I called out for 3 days straight and when I returned I was let go for absenteeism.

That was in January  - I'm starting a new job this coming Monday.

Lets me.  I was chaptered out of the Army for a Personality Disorder.  After that kept on getting laid off at job after job in the plastics industry bcause I was to slow and couldn't keep my focus.  I am gonna try enroll again in college this fall and try to get a degree in History and do something with that.

Thanks I need all the encouragement I can get!

I have only ever been able to hold down part-time low skilled jobs, despite being extremely intelligent and highly qualified in several areas.
Of the four menial jobs I have had in my life, I have lost two of them because of severe anxiety, panic attacks and social phobia (all related to my AS).

Unfortunately the areas I am qualified/skilled in usually lead to self-employment which is something that I would enjoy, but my lack of organisation, fear and ineptitude at socially networking and inability to cope with pressure and stress mean that being self-employed is not an option at the moment.

Hey, How is your new job going, Blacktext? Hope Ok!

chamoisee, there is nothing wrong with coming out and telling someone who is trying to train you on the job that just hearing it isn't sufficient for you to learn it. NTs have various learning styles too.  Here is how I've dealt with that problem:

Trainer: "you hit this button then that one then you switch this disk and now that disk becomes Volume 3 old, then you switch it with volume 5 and go over and hit that button and then the other  becomes named volume 4 new and..."

Me: Wait a moment, please take a screen print on each of those computer screens. I want to print them out to read over all this again later.

Trainer: Somebody tells ME something once and I've got it.

Me: That's so great you can do that. I admire that.  But I really cant. I need some notes at first

Trainer: No, I don't want you to be reading notes. It will slow  you down.

Me: Trust me on this. I need to read through it later to memorize all this. I'm won't remember all this if I don't use notes at least the first few times I do it. (apologetic smile)

Then i had to stop her and ask her to go back and print a screen every time she skipped one. People always seem to skip steps so you have to watch them.  I took the prints home and studied them until I learned them. I always keep the original notes in my desk just in case I have a brain fade moment after vacation or something.
I've also pointed out that this has proven to be a great "cookbook" step by step guide for anyone who fills in for me when I'm on vacation.  

Please understand that people who can do a job are not necessarily good teachers. Not everyone can teach well. You have to take an active role to get what you need.

Other useful phrases:

"This sounds important. Just a moment please, I want to write this down."

"Please explain it to me again while I take notes. I don't want to miss anything."

"I learn best by doing things. Let me try doing it this time while you watch me."

"I'm sure it will be easier once I get the hang of it."

"Is there an instruction manual or perhaps further information available from the internet on this subject?  I'd like to learn more."

Yes, though not directly.

Its a complex issue and AS can impact in a number of different ways depending on circumstances.

From my perspective it has revolved around interpersonal factors not my ability to do the job technically.

I am in college, and I have a job as a receptionist. I figured being a secretary would help with my social skills, but even after 6 months, I found out that my skills aren't progressing quickly enough. In the beginning of the year, my employer said that I may be fired, and asked me to work harder. I am very good at the job, except that I am not social enough. I tried very hard to be more social, smile more, talk more, and greet people.

This is very tiring for me, but I stuck it out because I did not want to lose this job, and then at the end of the school year, my employer said that I may get fired next semester. I am sad about this, I did try very hard to be social, but it has not worked.

The easiest job to get at my school is a cafeteria job, which pays ok, but this would cause a lot of auditory problems. The cafeteria has many people talking,and it would cause me a lot of stress, and anxiety, so I don't want to lose the job I already have. This will be my second job lost, the first one due to schedule problems.

I am looking for a job for the summer, as of now.

Ignore that part of an  IT job ad, unless it is a job as a salesman or customer rep.  Consider it as standard yada yada filler in the cookie cutter type ads that HR departments crank out.  Most people bluff their way through job interviews, NT or not.  Once you get hired you can be among other geeks once again.

Dear Cyberoptics II: I think that Christianity survived so long because it is a means of social and economic support, the same as any other community of persons. But, for a new system to develop that solves the problems of declining energy resources, as well as the international banking and trade systems, it would take a great deal of regulation, not simply a grass roots coming together of like minded people, or some spiritual reawakening. Though, every system needs a reawakening in order to provide the moral framework on which to act.

You've probably become rather self-concious of your own behaviour, Cyberoptics. In fact I'm sure that we all are to some degree otherwise we wouldn't be writing on this forum. I think that oftentimes people are rude to one another in this life due to their own egocentricity and are really quite unaware of how short of a time we have in this life. I call it the affliction of "youthfulness and feeling good". How many people truly enjoy the warmth of the sun, their own good health and the commeraderie of those who mean the most? Instead, they nit pick about "autism", their neighbours kids, their own status and position. Meanwhile, in reality life lasts but a few short decades and much of this behaviour is all for naught. I think that it was William Shakespeare that said, "All the world is a stage with it's actors strutting to and fro', signifying nothing.'

You seem to be approaching morality from the standpoint of thoughfulness though I doubt that most morality systems, including religion, are truly based on an interpersonal morality inasmuch as is claimed.

Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
- Matt. xxv. 45

Perhaps such systems are merely designed to affect our operant condition on a macro-level so that we may co-exist for the betterment of the system. What I was trying to say is that a moral system is needed in order to form a basis for a political or economic reality. For example, noone becomes overly excited about economics, or politics alone. They instead speak in terms of social justice.