Are their any aspergers Bakers here?, I need work help

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Any Aspergers Bakers on this forum?
If so do you have tips to increase speed and increase my memory so I can hold more information about jobs I have to do and in what order and how to rember and do them properly from week to week. I have a reall problem keeping bench spaces neat and tidy and keeping my self clean as well(its really difficult to when working with flour and butter and sugar).

My bosses happy but I think I need to improve the memory part of things of my job I write things down from week to week but sometimes the stuff I write on gets dirty or lost or worst still soggy in my apron. I try to take a little yellow diary from one job to the next in my workplace but sometimes it isn't convenient to jot stuff down quickly and I have to remember stuff from week to week and sometimes the stuff that is repetition to the rest of my co-workers is just difficult for my because I'm slower and have a worser memory than the rest of them. I really want to become a better worker and baker but sometimes the stuff that should click from working 2 days a week doesn't I need people to check out my mesurements for things like oil and dry ingredients such as flour and improver and milk powder, and also I need them to check my mesurements for such ingredients as sugar and Yeast.

I really want to continue working as a baker but don't know what I can do to improve some of the things I need to improve and be an employable baker and decently trustworthy to do the right things without supervision.

Anyone who's worked in this field before, even temporarly, I would appreciate their tips Thankyou

I work in a bakery and deli of a grocery store. All our breads and doughnuts arrive preformed and frozen, we just thaw them out, proof them, and then bake or fry them. I woudl like it better if we baked from scratch!

However, I can relate to a lot of what you said. When I decorate cakes, I tend to get frosting on the table, on the floor, on my right shoudler (from bending over the cake while decorating- the...the thing the frosting is extruded from gets frosting on me). When I bread chicken I usually manage to get at least some of the breading on me. For messiness, do you wear an apron? A heavy vinyl one is nice. We got ours from the meat department. I use tape to tape my sleeves up so they don't get as messy. I also go through the latex gloves like crazy, even though I'm beginning to hate the sensation they leave on my hands. I keep a clean pair nearby so that if I need them, they are right there.

Memory: I started off with two index cards where I wrote down the vital information. For me, it was the deli codes for the machine, ie, 231=taco sticks, 228, pizza sticks, 247, onion rings, etc etc. There were 20-30 different codes to be used on a frequent basis and looking them up in teh book each time was a pain. With time and practice I referred to the cards less. Now I am one of the best for knowing the codes by memory. I am good at remembering numbers anyway, so that helped.

With other thigns, such as breaking out the frozen doughnuts, it helps to rely on picture thoguhts. This is also true for measurements, i.e. if a customer syas "1/2 a lb of roast beef, 1 1/2 lbs of turkey breast, and 1/2 lb of hard salami" I then ask them back, out loud: So, a pound and a half of the turkey breast, and just half a pound each of the roast beef and hard salami?"

Do you see what I did? I arranged teh items beginnign from the biggest quantity down to the smallest, and the ones that are the same quantity are grouped together. That makes them easier for me to remember. As I say it back to them, I picture the packages of meat in my mind: a large, 1.5# package of turkey and smaller amounts each of the salami and roast beef. Organizing the amounts helps, sayign it back to verify it helps a LOT, and visualizing it seals it.

If it is something repetitive, such as, always 20 croissant doughnuts laid out on a screen, I can go into my mind and picture them: 5 across and 4 down, twenty of them, because they look like this every time. What really messes me up is if they change it, and want only 15 of them for a chnage...I am likely to put twenty out, because the picture always has twenty.

Our short term memories tend to be poor, sometimes very poor. But saying it back out loud and picturing what the item is will help a lot. I also find that the more stressed I am and the more noise there is the worse my short term memory is. It took me months to learn my job, most of my coworkers had it down pat within two weeks. I think it is harder to learn routines that require a lot of multi-tasking and switching of focus. In the beginning I had to ask for help and advice almost constantly. With time I have become a very competent and conscientious worker.

There is another thing. It will help you a lot if you can work 3-4 days a week rather than 2. Two days a week isn't enough to learn the routine easily, IMHO.

Hmm, I've had both experiences with cooking. I did home economics at school (cooking and nutrition) and I found I didn't learn anything, but later, in my twenties, when I taught myself to cook from books, and worked as a kitchen hand, I found I remembered well.

I think the difference between the two experiences was that at school there was always someone standing around telling you what to do, and when to do it, so I didn't need to think for myself and thus I didn't learn.

I dunno, you say your boss is happy with you, so you can't be that much of a problem, and it's probably not unusual to have someone check your measurements, even with experienced staff, after all, a mistake can be costly. Talk to your boss about it, s/he may have some ideas, I can only think of fridge magnet type notepads or magnetic whiteboards or plastic sealed recipes/directions placed near your usual spot. I think eventually the repetition will work, it's just that we take longer to pick up basic routines than NTs.

I'm sure you're aware that retaining and acting on spoken instructions is a problem for us, so written material is better, it's just finding a written form that is convenient for you that is the problem.


PP

I find that keeping a small memo pad and pen on my person helps alot, the boss is glad to see me writing the insructions down, thus not making him repeat them