how to find a job with minimal social interaction?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm female, 35, and don't have a job. I have worked many jobs over the years, none for very long. I hate 9-5 jobs, getting up so early stresses me out so much that I have trouble sleeping at night. I wake up every hour or so checking the clock to see what time it is to calculate how much longer I can sleep. I have mostly worked in offices, doing reception/admin work. I found that sort of work to be very easy on one hand, as there were hardly any responsibilities. However, in order to be a receptionist you need to be friendly. I was sent to various places through job agencies, and I'm pretty sure the people in the offices I worked in were like "what the heck is she doing as a receptionist". I don't tend to smile very often and have a really hard time being friendly and cheerful.

I mostly hated all of the office jobs I had. I almost always ended up with rotten supervisors who singled me out as easy targets and they would dump all the horrible work they were too lazy to do on me knowing I wouldn't refuse. I also worked at a cinema. I enjoyed cleaning the screens after movies were over, it was quiet and easy. However, the management always made me work at the popcorn counter which I hated. I was fully on display and had to wear a hat. It felt rather degrading to be almost 30 serving popcorn with a bunch of young people in their late teens and early twenties. Also, there were many snotty young girls who were very image conscious and they took a passionate dislike to me because I refused to bow down to their superiority.

I've been working as a cleaner for the last three years, cleaning peoples homes. At first I really liked doing that because when I clean I am on my own and don't have to deal with anyone. However, lately I've been stuck cleaning homes for stay at home moms who are home while I clean and so I have to deal with them and their children which I really do not like at all. Also, I find that as I am getting older cleaning a persons house spotless over five hours is absolutely physically exhausting.

I have been thinking that I should look into finding a job, but am absolutely terrified! I just don't know what I would do. It's been so long since I've worked in an office I can't imagine what I would put on my c.v. Also, I really don't want to be a temporary office worker where all the dirty gross jobs get tossed my way. One time I had to spend 3 days in a dark, damp, moldy, spider infested storage facility searching for old files in moldy cardboard boxes. It was pretty awful. I end up having to make people coffee, have to be smiley, and have to deal with people.

I cannot imagine working in a restaurant or coffee shop. I don't think I can clean full time, I am so exhausted all the time and all my muscles hurt. I have no energy left to cook supper or clean my house. I therefore don't want to work in a warehouse or factory either as that would mean more physical labour.

I was trained as a desktop publisher, but unfortunately I take a long time to get projects done and have absolutely no ability to cope with stress of any kind. Doing any kind of design work is very fast paced, deadline based and highly competitive. I don't have the confidence for that. Maybe if I was 20 I would feel more brave, but now I feel too old to try and blend in with a bunch of stylish trendy designers. I wear clothes from the grocery store, don't wear make up, get my hair cut twice a year, wear running shoes with holes. Hardly a trend setter.

I don't feel like I am really fit to even try and blend into society, but feel like it is something I should do in order to be at least somewhat normal. That and obviously I need more money!

What do other people do for work, and how do they cope?

what about bookkeeping?

I am kinda the same way. When i get stressed out i panic a bit and cant focus. I also cant sleep much caus i have insomnia. I am gona try to do military cause i think i would like that structured lifestyle. But anyway to the point i am a aspie and have a somewhat social job. I think you just need to find people you like or can tolerate working with at a simple job. I am a dishwasher and have to deal with some lazy people and we argue but at the same time we have fun.

don't think bookkeeping would be right for me. Although I like making lists and enjoy doing simple calculations, math was my worst subject way back in school days.

I definitely need to work somewhere with people who aren't miserable (which is what I encountered at most of my office jobs). The thing is, there is always going to be "that person" everywhere I work. I just need to learn how to deal with them.

I feel like the work world is full of soldiers, everyone has their sword and their armour. I walk in regular clothes and am shocked when knives poke at me and am utterly defenseless.

I can't stand working with people either. I applied to Vocational Rehabilitation and requested that they help me find a job with as little social interaction as possible. If you are in the U.S., you can try that; if not, look for something similar in your country. You have to have some sort of mental or physical disability to apply. The process seems to take rather a long time, however.

Have you thought about working online? I made a post of legitimate ways to work online. It's in this thread:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt190582.html

Unfortunately, none of those will earn you enough money if you are a typical person living in the first world. Online tutoring can get you close, depending on what you can tutor.

I'm tired and I misread that as "BEE keeping" for a second...

but seriously... i have been looking into bee keeping for the hell of it all.... normally i hate bees but now i kinda like them


find something you enjoy... maybe even start ur own business - with a business partner, possibly an NT - that way, they can deal with the customer-orientated but, while you can do the creative or tech stuff... just a thought...

i can't stand being in a shop etc even to buy a packet of gum or a bottle of whiskey, nevermind working there...

I'm now a Roadie - and whenever I get a gig, it's great - i get to do all manner of technical stuff with limited people stuff (i like being with people, but there ARE limits...)

(obviously it's sh** when I don't get a gig...)

I am not on pills and not under psychiatric care, so I became a dump truck driver when I had a hard time finding a job. The pay is better than any office job I have ever done, and the work is easy. You just go from one place to another in a truck.

I have a BA degree in Technical Writing. I worked as an editor for several years, but I never made as much money as I have driving trucks.

You need to follow rules and regs, and be Pleasant, and willing, but you don't need to smile. Most of the people are men, and they swear and spit all the time. The few women (I am one of 2 women drivers) are treated kindly, and not punished for being women.

If you really want to work alone, drive the big rigs, and be a line hauler or an interstate OTR driver. It's one of the loneliest jobs in the world.

wow being a roadie sounds awesome! I like the idea of being on the fringes of the action. I don't have any of those kind of technical skills sadly, so that's out for me.

I can totally see the lure of driving trucks. You're basically your own boss, you play your own music and it's uncomplicated. I did think about it, but I really don't like driving very much. My over the top fear of confronting people and being assertive carries over into my driving habits. There are a lot of lunatics with road rage out there and I have had many near nervous breakdowns just from being over taken or tail gated. I don't think it would be safe for me or anyone else. I have a friend who is a driver, he drives a company car to deliver and pick up things for a company and he loves it. He also had a lot of trouble with bullies at work and now he doesn't have to deal with people very much. I also thought about doing that, but I live in a city where the roads aren't properly maintained and there are holes and bumps more than there is smooth road. I get angry just driving my car, bouncing all over the place surrounded by people with road rage who drive 60 in 40 zones running over squirrels constantly.

Thank you Starkid for posting those links. I'd love to work online, I just really don't have any confidence that I can do much. I feel like why would a company bother with me when there are a hundred other people with more valuable skills waiting for a chance?

I do like the idea of having my own business. I think that's where it's at. I don't want to work at a coffee shop, I'd rather just own a franchise and let someone else do the dirty work. That philosophy doesn't work though, as I guess I'd be in charge of organizing the whole thing not to mention the enormous amount of cash required to start such an endeavor.

As I'm sure it's obvious at this point, I'm fussy. I had a job once doing data entry, and that was great. It was only from 11-3 which was perfect as I could sleep in. I worked on a team with three guys, and they were pretty decent. All of them quirky, which was perfect. They used to take turns bringing coffee or tea from the machine to our desks. They never got nasty or critical. I made a mistake once, and one of the guys pointed it out to me, but he was cool about it. I could also go home when I was done entering the data and still be paid for the full amount of time. It was through an agency, so no one cared.

I guess I could sign up with job agencies again and see what comes up. I'm a bit afraid I guess because I live in a French city and I don't really speak French very well. I understand it even less than I speak it! Most of my job experience is from when I lived in an English speaking place. Where I am now, most places expect you to be fully bilingual and would prefer you to be French. They also seem to expect you to have a bachelor's degree just to work as a receptionist or as an admin assistant. Not that I'd want to that work anyway.

It's always the same jobs advertised in the paper. Drivers, bartenders, telemarketers (which I did for a few years and hated) bar staff, waitress, dishwasher, bus boy, and then every other job begins with bilingual this and that. It's very discouraging. Nothing ever pops up that makes me thing "ooh, that looks interesting".

One thing I've found is that it's really hard to tell going in, what it's going to be like. The only universal rule for me is whenever contact with the general public, and not just with coworkers, is required, its going to be difficult. But other than that, it's pretty hard to tell. Sometimes depends on the personalities involved, which you can never know going in. I've found some jobs quite tolerable, even though you're working alongside other people the whole time. And other jobs where you're by yourself intolerable just because of the supervisor.

maybe you could put together an Ocean's 11 style crack team? i.e. one NT to deal with the public, one money man, one business and marketing guy, and you to do the stuff you like, whatever area that may be in...



a bartender I would love to do - depending on the bar; if it were a small traditional pub or maybe even a rough pub (don't ask. just don't ask.)

i would wager that very few jobs that make one go "OOOHHH!! !" would be advertised in the media....

EDIT: the cynic in me says that a job would only be advertised after networking connections etc have turned up nothing - so that the advertisement is the last resort... this is my opinion, not a fact.