Are you currently employed?

[Droopy]

Is anyone currently employed? If so, how is it going for you / are you coping? If not, do you think you would be suitable for employment?

 

[Firnafth]

I am sort of employed. I teach labs part-time for the Biology department - they pay me for it, so this way I can afford to be a grad student and they get cheap teaching labor.

I feel good about my job at this moment. Last year I disliked teaching and it got so bad I started getting tense about it a day before I had to teach. I was teaching Freshman Biology Lab, and the focus was on student discussion and group work. We were discouraged from lecturing and from giving the students straightforward information. This teaching method requires good classroom management skills (because it's harder on the the students and they can get off track) and an ability to adapt on the fly to whatever students were saying and doing. It was bad for me because my classroom management and on the fly conversation skills are a little weak. Also, I would have hated learning under this system. I intensely dislike group work.

This year I am teaching Anatomy & Physiology Lab. It is much more strictly structured, and the point is to help the students learn a lot of terms and concepts. No classroom discussions! No group work! I demonstrate something or give instructions, and then the students go and do their work. If they ask questions the answers are simple. It makes things so much better for me.

So I am OK with my job right now. I try hard to be enthusiastic and positive while I teach, and I think I do a pretty good job.

 

[Droopy]

That's good Firnath! Good to hear you have a job and are coping with it alright. As for myself, I'm not currently seeking any employment as I'm focusing on my education (which is a mess right now). I'm not sure how I would cope in a work environment. One job I would dislike is working on a till and serving customers as it would require a lot of engagement with people.

 

[Firnafth]

I'm not sure how I would cope in a work environment. One job I would dislike is working on a till and serving customers as it would require a lot of engagement with people.

What is working on a till?

What kind of job would you like/are you hoping to get eventually?

 

[Droopy]

Working on a till = cash register or whatever you people call it across the pond.

I don't know what kind of job I would like. Possibly something to do with computers as they are a big interest of mine currently. However, I wouldn't want to be stuck at a computer desk all day long as that would be boring.

 

[Firnafth]

Thanks! Cash register is the term I'm most familiar with.

I suspect there is an incredible variety of computer-related jobs out there, I bet you can eventually find one that allows you to get up from the desk regularly.

 

[142857]

I usually work in IT, and I've been out of work for pretty much since the Global Financial Crisis began. Hopefully things are picking up, projects are finally getting off the ground, and I'll be working again soon.

 

[Billi]

I am. I work in a hospital in the boiler room. I actually do a lot more than that. We have our own well and I have a State license as a water treatment operator, the well is simple, the paperwork and legal requirements are complicated. I laso test all the water treatment systems for our equipment and control the chemical treatments we use. I run dozens of chemical tests each day, and make adjustments based on the results. I really need too be outside some to be happy, so it works out well that I have to check and clean the several decorative water fountains we have around the buildings. When I want to really isolate, I also am responsible for creating most of the reports we have to do each month. I converted all our files from 10 year old Lotus123 to Micrsoft Excel. I am working on creating forms for use on our PDAs to download the information directly into the reports, where I wouldn't have to type it all in.
My boss has figured out how much I dislike being interrupted when working, so now he texts me to say he has a job for me when I am free. I usually respond pretty fast, it just allows me to transition from one thing to another at my own pace, and he likes it because I don't get upset at him for constantly calling me to go do something different. Of course when It's an emergency, I respond right away, but that's not often. When I am doing water chemistry or paperwork on the computer I will listen to music on my headphones. I have so much to do in a week, and most of the time I just do it with out being told to, where I work at that is rare. There were no pay raises last year, but I got promoted to the next pay scale, so I make better money.
I had the same job before, at a different hospital, except I spent all my time repairing equipment. The only problem with this job is I am being trained to do all the things my boss does, and his health is pretty bad, and I really don't want his job.

 

[jaws]

Billi, your job sounds great...I'd enjoy something like that as well.

Unfortunately, I'm in retail sales dealing with the public, and have a new CEO and management team so I'm also dealing with business politics and there are a few employees that have been around a while and don't like change, so I get to deal with that personal stuff...it is a small store so I get to hear all about everyone's personal life and rumors about every other employee. I hope everyone here can understand what a nightmare it is for me.

I seem to do well at it. I studied marketing and sales in college and learned how to read body language and how to ask questions to uncover needs (I think of it like a mystery game of matching a persons wants, needs, and resources). Customer's tell me they like me better than most sales people. I try to be friendly and smile a lot, nod my head, and say "oh yea, I know what you mean." though I'm usually clueless as to what they are babbling about unless it matches my game of selling them something. I also find that I start to get very uncomfortable and twitchy if they don't leave after the sale is complete. It is like I can hide all my Asie traits when I'm selling, but if they stick around I literally start to sweat and can feel my eyes dancing around while trying to socialize like if they start to tell me about their home projects, kids, asking about sports teams. I manage to get through it, but by the end of the day I'm exhausted and near meltdown. Odd thing to me, is I can do the socializing thing much better with co-workers than with customers.

I think I'd prefer to have a job fact checking or creating something. I'm not really sure what I want to do when I grow up...saddest part is I am grown up.:S

 

[Bell]

I've been off work for ~8 months. I lost my license to practise because of abuse of drugs (I had free and easy access to them) due to my anxiety. I was prescribed benzodiazepines. I built tolerance to it, then I upped the dosage along with the addition of narcotics (as benzodiazepines alone stopped working). I then phoned my College about my abuse.

Dealing with customers/patients, etc. was torture at times, especially due to the muti-tasking nature of my job. The ultimate worst part of my job is working at the till. I can't avoid it because I don't have any pharmacy technicians helping me after 10 pm. My pharmacy was open 24 hrs/day.


I'm not looking forward to returning but I don't see any other options as I have no other employable skills.

 

[Firnafth]

I try to be friendly and smile a lot, nod my head, and say "oh yea, I know what you mean."

This sounds very similar to what I taught myself to do during conversations. Fortunately, I've done it enough so that it's now second nature, and I've come to actually mean what I pretend. It is quite effective. I've noticed that unless I'm really excited, there's very little difference between my fake expression of interest and my real one. Same thing for indicating I understand something.

 

[Nathan]

I am not employed. I wish I was.

 

[Billi]

For me the best part of my job is when I have clear expectations of what is expected, and am able to just work independantly. I am a stickler for details, and very good at being able to see what needs to be done and deciding how to do it. I like the sense of accomplishment I get by completing tasks one by one. Ideally I would be left alone to just "do my thing", and judged solely on the work I produce. But often my day gets interrupted a few times as my boss sends me off to handle the things that come up out of the ordinary. I have started saying things like "Is it OK if I finish this first?" or "I'm still working on the last thing you told me to do. Do you want me to finish that first?" Most of the time he says I can finish what I'm doing first.

 

[Kit]

I work part time and another month I'd be off again.

 

[. . .]

I work part time and another month I'd be off again.

You'll no longer be employed in a month? Why not, Kit?

 

[zombiegirl]

Hi, I'm new here. I found this forum from someone's signature banner on aspiesforfreedom.com

Anyhow, I'm not currently employed. I'm about to start back college fulltime in January. I just changed my major from Biology to English. I was two years into the Biology degree, but my initial intention with that was medical school...but I realized that I couldn't handle the stress and competition. I really enjoy english literature, so I think this is a good move. Although, I did really enjoy my Biology classes, but I did not enjoy the math & chemistry.

Anyhow, I had moved out of state for close to a year...and while I was there I worked in a sign shop. I was their engraver. I didn't mind the work at all, but my boss was horrible! So, it made for a miserable experience...

I'm excited to get back to school in a little over a month.

 

[superboyian]

Hi, I'm new here. I found this forum from someone's signature banner on aspiesforfreedom.com

Anyhow, I'm not currently employed. I'm about to start back college fulltime in January. I just changed my major from Biology to English. I was two years into the Biology degree, but my initial intention with that was medical school...but I realized that I couldn't handle the stress and competition. I really enjoy english literature, so I think this is a good move. Although, I did really enjoy my Biology classes, but I did not enjoy the math & chemistry.

Anyhow, I had moved out of state for close to a year...and while I was there I worked in a sign shop. I was their engraver. I didn't mind the work at all, but my boss was horrible! So, it made for a miserable experience...

I'm excited to get back to school in a little over a month.

Well that signature banner is most likely mine, nice bumping into you again and welcome to Aspies Central forums.

The boss in a work place can make anyones life hell but then again, they're boss.

From what it sounds like from here, I don't think your boss likes the sounds of people messing about and she sounds pretty serious. :lol2:

 

[zombiegirl]

Hi again!

Yes, I think he had OCD, and he didn't like me asking questions yet he said that I didn't ask enough questions. lol I never knew when I could ask questions and when I couldn't (fear of getting yelled at). He made my life a living hell.

 

[Balamvucub]

Fortunatly for the most part [outside of holidays] I do not have to deal with a croud of 'co-workers' as I am working solo, taking care of an elderly gentle man with alzheimers,and he's just as 'quarky' as I am in some ways. I had a job cloning plants however had lost it due to disputes with another employee,and 'insubordination' for doing tissue culture cloning with out 'proper license to do so'.This doesn't stop me from freelancing when opportunity arises though.

 

[Luvyahbaby]

I'm guessing that most folks here are under 30 or college students seeking employment.

I am employed but truthfully I know my job is not my 'dream career'. One of the main reasons I took up accounting was to limit much interaction with people because I did more front desk work and sales before but I was so drained at the end of the day...but I've realised that even at work dealing with co workers is tough but I'm hanging in there. Sales training has helped me deal with people but its not something that came to me naturally...I had to work really hard at it. Since accountants are usually assumed to lack 'people skills' I assumed that being one could have me excused but even dealing with other accountants I have found to be a bit stressful.

I've already started trying to figure out my next career...something along the lines of computer engineering/economics and music - something more into doing research. My job is just NOT mentally stimulating and I'm actually bored! Can't wait to finish professional exams!

Thing is you can't really avoid people all the time but at least doing what you really want to do while having to deal with the people problems makes life a bit more fulfilling.