How many jobs did you have? what kind? were you bullied? did Asperger get in the way, or did it help?
I've lost count of how many jobs there were. Up until I was about 22/23, I never lasted a year in any one job. There was always at least one person who bullied me, sometimes badly, sometimes less so because, by mere chance, more people liked me, which made the bullying more difficult.
The jobs that required a lot of talking and/or social interaction in an unscripted way were the most difficult, but also the easiest entry-level jobs to get: retail, telesales (airline tickets, so there was quite a bit of back-and-forth involved that wasn't scripted), waiting tables...
After that, I worked as a croupier and several secretarial jobs, consecutively. That's where I sometimes started lasting for almost a year at a time. In spite of what people may think, croupier work as I got to know it was heavily scripted and about sticking to a strict routine with an intermittent smile and comment. No walk in the park, but better than retail, sales and ringing phones.
Then I did a stint as an in-house translator for company in claims adjustment. As far as the work went, it was the best job I've ever had. Unfortunately, this is were I was bullied the worst ever. It was bloody relentless. Part of it was that I was one of the youngest people in an office where rank and years of experience were seen as paramount, and another big part was that they were obsessively social at that place, in a forced way. I came in, did my job and left. They hated that with a vengeance. I lasted a full year only because I needed the money and couldn't easily find a job that paid about the same. That's where AS definitely got in the way because I couldn't have forced myself to socialise if I had wanted to.
At the moment I work part-time (very much by choice) as an administrator in the public sector. I initially got the job because my boss-at-the-time, who travelled a lot and was therefore gone from the office for months, needed someone who would be absolutely a-okay working on their own in relative solitude and with little direct supervision, but who could be trusted to work thoroughly. There were co-workers around, but no one directly working with me. I must have been the person to agree the most convincingly and enthusiastically, with the track-record they wanted.
The job was tolerable because of the solitude and independence, and because my boss often gave me interesting assignments translating and researching material. Then my bosses changed due to retirement, and now I've been pushing paper for long enough to know it's not going to get any better. Also, another one of my bosses (I have two direct ones) has taken a dislike to me for some random reason, but this is a plight I share with many of my co-workers, so it has become obvious to people that the problem lies with that boss, not with me or any of the other people who have become targets. I don't think AS plays a part in this problem.
I have now lasted there for an incredible 6.5 years and am looking to leave as soon as an opportunity presents itself because I am bored out of my mind.
I have also tried working for myself as a translator for a couple of years, but the field is overcrowded, rates are incredibly low and boy, was it ever heavy on dealing with people! Agencies, direct clients, networking in order to get orders... very unpleasant people, long hours, high pressure, vanishingly small financial reward. It ranks among the most loathesome work I've had due to these external factors that I am sure many neurotypical people are better equipped to cope with than I am.
