What Is Your Current Job/Emploment?

[Hopeless_Aspie_Guy]

I feel that my job is very ideally suited to someone on the spectrum (I'll explain why and what it is further in), but I know that sometimes people on the spectrum can find it hard to be employed nor do they possess the business skills to be self employed and run their own business (the alternative to being employed). So for those who do work, what is your job role and what does it involve and are there any things that your neurology benefits from you or disadvantages you in your job?

So I'm a field merchandiser (mainly for two agencies but also some other adhoc work for other agencies self employed). Almost all of my work is in retail outlets and is call file based in involves me visiting stores that I'm booked in for the week (either weekly, fortnightly, monthly or one off). Most of my work revolves around magazines and greetings cards. As a magazine merchandiser I have to go into Aldi stores, take all old titles off and replace them with the newer titles whilst ensuring the old stock gets returned to the wholesaler, handling any in store inquiries and controlling the stock being delivered (as well as doing stock counts) all to insure the store doesn't lose money on it's returns and makes as much as it can on selling. I do a bit of other work with magazines in other stores too, but this is the main job I don twice a week for one company and in 9 stores scattered around Essex and London.

The other company I work for sees me going into poundland and B&M stores and dealing with greetings cards displays mostly (merchandising them to planogram and ordering new stock to replenish ones that are sold out, a planogram is like a visual blueprint). I'd also merchandise and order sim cards and merchandise the DVD's/CD's.

My adhoc work for other companies has seen me do things such as setting up large cardboard displays for new product launches (deodorants, hair products, drinks etc) and merchandising things like seed spinner stands.

The jobs work well for me because;
They indirectly help support the sales (rather than requiring me to try and convince or lie to people like a salesman).
I'm not confined to one place (which I'd find boring over time)
I'm always doing things, never a dull or quiet moment (which just makes me more depressed).
I don't have to speak to many people if I don't want to.
It requires you to be quick at doing repetitive systematic tasks

 

[Datura]

I am currently unemployed. Prior to that I was working as a personal support worker. It was understimulating. I was also expected to help people with general life skills, some of which I apparently do not possess myself. I ended up having a meltdown, which though not completely related to my job, should tell you something about its suitability for me.

 

[Lady Penelope]

I've been in a business partnership for the past 12 years. It's just the 2 of us and we work great together. Our clients and business associates can't understand how well we get on. We met when i started at the same law firm when i finished uni. The firm was sold and we started our own development business. Last week i read about female aspergers and felt it was me. I told him some of the traits and he agreed. He said he was HFA and told me about how he uses it to his advantage. No wonder we work well! Where he has learned to lead NTs , been a top salesman and trained large groups in motivation etc, i handle all the details and am the memory.
It works for us cos we are our own boss so if we have a flat day we can swap appointments and spend the day playing with puppies or sitting in a park to recharge.
This past week has been great cos we have been talking about how our differences have given us the edge in our business. It's made us closer too by sharing our personal stories. I feel very lucky.

 

[xudo]

Unemployed. I'm classed as unfit to work because of a back injury...from 2008. So far they just haven't gotten round to reassessing me. Before that I was an office junior, and I despised it.

 

[Stitch]

I work as an inventory specialist at a nursery. While I didn't start in that position -I moved into it over the past year or so -it is pretty much right up my alley. For one, working with plants is way easier than working with people, and so is working with numbers. (Numbers don't have any hidden meaning that I can't understand.) The job also requires me to be outside by myself a lot, which is pretty much a dream come true. I do have to interact with people and coordinate counting and tagging and whatnot, but again there are some upsides to that.
My boss, while not on the spectrum (and not knowing I'm on the spectrum) is similar in personality and understanding of how I operate, which I can see from looking through the forums is really a treasure.
But I think one of the big things is that I work with a lot of people from a different culture. ASD is a culture all to itself, and it's much harder interacting with NT people of my own ethnic background -but with coworkers from a different culture entirely? If I make any slip-ups or goofs, they kinda brush it off because they figure it's a cultural difference, and they appreciate me trying to interact anyway.
In summation ...I'm very thankful for the job I have.

 

[clg114]

I spent 40+ years working for a Cat equipment dealer as a field service technician. I retired at 62 and started my own equipment repair business. That was 9 years ago and I am still doing it. It is a great job for someone like me because I work alone and get to work with my special interest.

I know that I am very lucky to have spent all these years doing something that I really enjoy. This career path was not planed, it just worked out the way that it did. I started out as a tank mechanic in the Army. I liked doing that, but when I got out of the Army there did not seem to be much demand for tank mechanics. So I switched to heavy equipment. It was a good choice.

 

[Judge]

Self-employed equities trader with only one client- me.

 

[Khendra]

I do what I believe Datura was describing, although where I live, it's called direct support worker (or professional). I really excel at making sure all the documentation is detailed and correct in the field, something that many of the neurotypical co-workers hate doing and are bad at even though it's an extremely important part of the job. I also like that it's generally slower-paced, which helps as I'm a horrific multi-tasker.

I've also done substitute teaching. I did best as an aide in Special Ed; teaching Regular Ed by myself was harder due to my executive functioning deficits (multi-tasking, etc.) and problems reading and responding the best way to students' social cues. As an aide, I could follow another teacher's lead, and work with smaller groups.

The challenges in both jobs has always been the people/social side. When things seem unfair, annoying, or are riddled with conflict with others, sometimes I have gotten really upset and given up. Hence I go back and forth between both jobs, usually lasting about a year or so until burnout.

 

[Hopeless_Aspie_Guy]

(and not knowing I'm on the spectrum)

...one day there may be an aspie registration act...just like in the fictional world of marvels x-men they had the mutant registration act. You cannot hide your neurological state

I spent 40+ years working for a Cat equipment dealer as a field service technician. I retired at 62 and started my own equipment repair business. That was 9 years ago and I am still doing it. It is a great job for someone like me because I work alone and get to work with my special interest..

Wow (and no disrespect intended) you must be one of the oldest aspies on here. I always wonder how hard it may have been for those around before aspergers or autism was ofcially a medical term.

which helps as I'm a horrific multi-tasker.

It is possibly an aspie trait, although driving helped me learn to multi-task better.

The challenges in both jobs has always been the people/social side. When things seem unfair, annoying, or are riddled with conflict with others, sometimes I have gotten really upset and given up. Hence I go back and forth between both jobs, usually lasting about a year or so until burnout.

This may not have happened to me to the same extent, but I found myself easily understanding and appreciating this never the less.

 

[Mr Allen]

I work in a Charity shop.

Love it, I'll have been there 3 years in June, and I've been offered an extra shift on Fridays on a temporary basis covering for someone who's off.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I'm a research assistant. It suits me well because I get to work focused on my long term special interest (ecological responses to climate change). I spend a lot of time working alone and my ability to remain very focused for a long time is very beneficial. I also seem to have a higher tolerance for tedious jobs such as cleaning data than most of my colleagues.

I also fit in better socially than I might in other jobs as university academics tend to be more prone to having asperger-like personalities. The only bit I struggle with is that I am in charge of an international network of academics researching similar topics and that requires a lot of communication, emails, webinars, organising meetings and workshops, which I find very difficult and stressful. Luckily I can intersperse any stressful communicating with some nice dull data cleaning to calm myself down.

 

[The Penguin]

I develop software and setup IT systems. Learning lots of interesting technologies as i progress in my career.

 

[umbrellabeach]

I'm a grocery store bagger, but I handed in my two weeks' resignation notice last week because I'm fed up and done with all the teasing and harassment from customers, especially older men. No matter what I did - mature hairstyle, dark makeup, active avoidance of customers - they kept coming at me. So I quit, and now I refuse to get a job that requires dealing with the public, even if that means I'll never have a job again.

Other than that, the job was okay. I helped a lot of customers find things once I had the store's layout memorized. (I feel bad that that knowledge is going to waste now.) I was good at the tasks such as shopback (returning customers' unwanted items to the shelves) and bagging too. The best parts were tips and marked-down holiday candy.

 

[Hopeless_Aspie_Guy]

'm fed up and done with all the teasing and harassment from customers, especially older men. No matter what I did - mature hairstyle, dark makeup, active avoidance of customers - they kept coming at me.

So I quit,The best parts were tips

Are you some kind of foxy lady that older men couldn't resist then
Wow tips for that kind of job, that's normally unheard of too.

 

[umbrellabeach]

Are you some kind of foxy lady that older men couldn't resist then
Wow tips for that kind of job, that's normally unheard of too.

I'm a clumsy young (and young-looking) woman. Those old men are just perverts and maybe pedophiles. It's nothing to do with me and everything to do with them being disgusting.

 

[clg114]

I'm a clumsy young (and young-looking) woman. Those old men are just perverts and maybe pedophiles. It's nothing to do with me and everything to do with them being disgusting.

So, older men are all perverts, pedophiles and disgusting? Hmmm. I have been described in a lot of ways, but that is a new one.

 

[umbrellabeach]

So, older men are all perverts, pedophiles and disgusting? Hmmm. I have been described in a lot of ways, but that is a new one.

I said THOSE old men, not ALL old men. Meaning the ones who have harassed me. In no way or post did I ever state that all men are like that.

 

[Hopeless_Aspie_Guy]

pedophiles

Random fact, but here in the UK we spell it 'paedophile' and pronounce it pee-dough-file.

So, older men are all perverts, pedophiles and disgusting? Hmmm. I have been described in a lot of ways, but that is a new one.

Wow yer that is old, were you around to see the dinosaurs

 

[umbrellabeach]

To the two people who rated my other post "Funny," kindly undo your ratings as it's not funny at all.

 

[Judge]

To the two people who rated my other post "Funny," kindly undo your ratings as it's not funny at all.

She's right.

There's a very fine line between flirting and teasing. Which at times escalates to a form of harassment. Made worse by total strangers approaching her who are indifferent to such considerations altogether. No one should have to be subject to such treatment day after day just to pick up a paycheck.

While at times we may find someone cute as hell, it never gives them the right to interact with them in such a way only meant for their own gratification whatever their reasoning might be. Be it at work or anywhere else.