I work too slow. What's going to happen to me?!

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I do voluntary work at a charity shop at the moment because I'm unemployed. Because of my high anxiety disorder, (and my ASD, I suppose), I have a special employment advisor for adults with disabilities to help me look for the type of employment which will suit me and my needs. But a couple of weeks ago he had to phone up my charity shop, just to see how I do and stuff like that. They said some good points about me, but also something negative. I expected them to be honest and say something negative, but I didn't think the negative would be what it is. The negative is that I'm slow at my work, and I never thought that. I was always told that I make a mess, and I expected them to say something like that, but not that I'm slow. And I heard employers don't like slow people, ASDs or no ASDs, so I'm more useless than dogs s**t.

Now I feel afraid because if I'm slow at an unpaid job at a charity shop, what the hell am I going to be with paid employment, with all the more pressure?! I'm damned if I know.....

Maybe you can find something to do that isn't that kind of work. Maybe try and get an education for skilled work if that's an option. Or perhaps try to develop some kind of self employment.

I got told I was slow at monkey work, and I was working my butt off all day every day. I think it's about the way my mind organizes (or fails to) those kind of simple tasks that normal brains don't have any problem with.

I don't know what's going to happen to you. I'd try to go with it. As long as you're not starving/homeless. The employment agency should recognise (make sure that they do) that you aren't suitable for things when they send you for that you aren't suitable for. Make sure they are aware of your ASD. Maybe suggest IT to them, that's usually a not too bad bet for aspies.

And some people on WP say Autism is a gift!
If it was a gift, why would it make me want to shoot myself in the head?

For years, I was frustrated by my slowness and I did not know that I had Asperger's. What a relief to be assessed and figure out what my real strengths and weaknesses are. I can now take pride in my thoroughness at work.

I took a community college course in using spreadsheet and database software. The course was for my job. No one else in my dept. wanted to do that work, and they were happy to pass it on to me. I learned how to automate parts of my workbooks and now I am often more productive than "regular" people.

I have learned that some employers value thoroughness and accuracy over speed. This has now become my main job skill - doing spreadsheeting or data entry in an office setting.

My counsellor guided me to the website bridges.com. Check it out and see what you think.

In several jobs I have been criticized as too slow. I did two things to compensate; the first was taking on the crap tasks that no one else wanted. That gave me relief from the complaints or at least the defense of "Well, if *you* want to do this..."

The other one though was making my stuff as strong as I could. The more time you save in redoing things the better off others are. It is not foolproof by any means but it helps.

I stayed at two different jobs for 9 years each by doing the job exactly the way the boss wants it to the letter. I would do it perfectly with no flaws or exceptions but slowly.