I dont work anymore... havent in probably like 8-10 years, I dont even know, but when I used to, it was non-stop problems.
The issue for me wasnt so much the interactions. It was three specific things:
1. Mind-melting boredom and drudgery.
2. Forced schedules and utterly nonsensical rules.
3. Uniforms.
Most jobs I had involved zero thinking. And they werent engaging enough to actually hold my attention. So time always seemed to pass VERY slowly. I mean, I had this problem back in my school days, but it was freaking multiplied when it came to any job. A single hour would pass, and I would think that it had been four hours. As it was, I couldnt HANDLE more than about 4 hours per shift, partly due to this. The idea of a full-time job was utterly revolting.
Now, there were a couple of places that were sort of exceptions to this. One was when I worked at the bank. It was an unusual job, running check sorters, enormous machines about the size of a car. Giant piles of checks would come in from a variety of branches... I think it was 12 different banks... and all of them would need to go through these two machines. What made it "engaging" was the fact that the machines were made of distilled crazy and would flip out constantly, making for non-stop situations that needed to be dealt with. These ranged from things like the machines shredding checks and spraying them into the air, to "clogs", or even nearly catching on fire a couple of times due to sheer friction. They needed constant babysitting. In that job, there was never a dull moment. Alot of "OMG WTF?!?" moments instead.
The other job was at Toys-R-Us. I was stationed in the gaming section (and the only employee that did not have to "rotate" from one section to another constantly). What kept it interesting is that MOST of the managers, of which there were many, didnt actually know how that section of the store worked (all managers focused on one or two sections, and there were MANY sections). So they'd do things like wheel in a cart of random whatever, clearly stuff that involved my section, and say things like "Here's a cart of whatever this is, I dont know what you do with it, just... do something". Instead of being constantly told to do braindead things, it was up to me to figure out what to do, and alot of tasks werent so simple as just restocking shelves. This kept the job at least somewhat mentally engaging. Not to mention that I was pretty much the only one at the store that REALLY knew about the products being sold there, so I was often called upon to give recommendations and opinions of different things to customers. Rather than just having the mindless "selling" interactions.
Forced schedules were another bad thing. I know alot of people on the spectrum need that sort of structure, but I tend to be the opposite. My "schedule" is chaotic and random and I make decisions on a whim. This clashed badly with the rigid structure of any job. Everything had to be done at specific times, and I couldnt even just go use the bathroom when I wanted to, or sit down and relax a bit when I felt the need. Had specific times only where I could do things like that. It was... bad.
And then... the uniforms. Uuuuugh. I have alot of the same sensory issues as many people on this site... you do the math. ALL of the uniforms were the direct opposite of clothing that I can tolerate. The one exception was the bank. That job was held in a seperate building that most people didnt even know the purpose of, let alone actually enter, so nobody gave a fart what I wore each day. All they cared about there was that I could keep the machines from going bonkers too much.
So, yeah, that's my experience with jobs. Or, what most people consider "proper" jobs anyway. MUCH later on (a couple of years ago actually), I received a contract offer from a game developer I know, to do some extremely specific work on the project, and THAT was more my speed. I fully explained all of my issues to the guy, and he was fine with all of them...even my reduced work hours. I was never given mind-melting braindead orders... instead, I made the choices and was given the authority to veto/cancel decisions made by others. And I could do it from my house. What they really cared about there was results, and I gave them exactly that. Granted, it was kinda scary at first... I remember when the project started, I asked the lead developer "so, what should I do first?" and his response was "Well, what do you think you should do first? Whatever it is, go do that". And my thoughts on that were "Oh gods I'm going to screw up the entire thing somehow". But it worked out well in the end. Stupidly though, alot of people dont consider that to be "real" work. Because derp.
Overall, the real trick is finding a job that's A: mentally engaging, and B: aligned with your skillset and interests if possible. Unfortunately, alot of jobs... particularly entry level stuff... are neither. And some jobs have odd ways to get in, too. That contract came to me... not the other way around. Sometimes, that's how it works... you never know where an opportunity might come from, so be prepared to spot potential opportunities... it's easy to miss them as they're not always so obvious.
There, that's my long ramble about that, which probably helps nobody. But I wrote it anyway. Not like anybody could stop me. Well, maybe Batman could.
