I don't understand why I got fired. Someone give me advice?

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I got fired from my last job. And on my first day of work. What did I do wrong?

I used to work at Cold Stone Creamery. An Ice cream shop, I was 16 years old, and happy to have a job.

I was fired. I followed everything from my training exactly as I was taught, everything up to a T. I learned exactly how many of what items to put in the ice cream. I memorized the recipies for each ice cream combination. I knew how to make a shake.

The supervisor fired me when there were a lot of customer complaints about me. I did exactly what I was told. There was a woman who filed a complaint to my boss saying that there's not enough strawberries. The Portion size for strawberries is 2 strawberries. No more than 2, and no less than 2. I told the lady that I was not allowed to do that. She complained to the boss and the boss was upset.

No one told me up front what I did wrong.

When customers tip, you're required to sing, and I usually don't sing until there's other people singing too. I'm too scared to do it. I still sing, but always so afraid to do it alone. Needless to mention that my singing voice was awful.

I don't understand why I got fired. I followed the rules, followed the instructions, procedures and did exactly as I was told to do. No one even helped me or at least told me what I did that was wrong. I'm autistic and I can't pick up on hints, or cues, or anything. If they hinted at me that I made a mistake, then I understand it.

Now 6 years later, I'm still in school training for a career, and I'm too afraid to get a job because I could never keep one, especially at this tough economy. No matter how hard I try I could never do anything right.

What have I done wrong at this job? What's wrong with me.

I need advice on how to not repeat the mistake(if any) again.

This store puts great emphasis on customer service. I always smile at the customers when I talk to them. I'm always courteous to others. I always make sure they walk out satisfied, but I had to follow the policy because I don't want to risk getting into trouble.

What did you do wrong?

You expected that by following the rules, the instructions, the procedures, and doing exactly as you were told, you would be doing the right thing. Unfortunately, when dealing with the public, that is the wrong thing to do. A good salesperson - one that gets retained - knows when to be flexible, and when to break the rules to please the customer.

Then again, some (most?) people seem to complain about Autistics in customer-service positions, just because they can.

Learn from the past. Live for the future.

This article might be of some consolation to you: "Cold Stone Creamery Stone Cold Broke".

Enjoy!

Uh, there are rules you are suppose to bend, to make the customers happy.

You were suppose to add strawberries and not say anything about it.

Problem is, we are clueless as to figuring out which rules we are suppose to bend and which ones we can't.

Helps greatly to get a job in which the rules don't bend--like the math, the hard sciences, or engineering. But, with customer service, they get bent all the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_and_soft_science
hard vs soft sciences

I would have done the same as you. My thing like that is I don't understand why there are speed limits you are legally not supposed to exceed but you can actually get pulled over for going the speed limit when everyone else around you is speeding for "impeding the flow of traffic." What! So it's basically whatever speed everyone else around you is going is the speed to go. It takes a risk-taker to get a group of speeders started though cause if no one else joins in they're a target for ticketing aren't they? It just is so stupid to me that even in matters of law popular trend can break what's right as determined by safety calculations.

I never understood speed limits too. I learned that you can get pulled over by driving below the speed limit as well. I asked myself well, if you can get a ticket for speeding AND driving too slow, what speed am I supposed to be driving at?!

And it seems that I got fired for not bending the rules for the customer's sake. I understood the customer is always right, but I don't want to get into trouble with the boss for doing something I wasn't allowed to do in the first place.

I'm also worried about how my job history will affect my chances of a job in the future. My job history isn't exactly very stellar either.

I'm studying to be a web designer and multimedia specialist. I'm afraid that when I get out of school and get into a job, the employer's going to look at my history and reject me because my history sucks.

at least coming out of school/ concentrating on ones studies, is a valid excuse for a gap in work history

At this point I wouldn't worry about it, first jobs usually don't end well. Chalk it up to a learning experience.

To be honest, I think you are well rid of that place.

I am baffled that a manager would think that it's appropriate to do this sort of thing after one day. There are reasons to fire someone on the spot: theft or other criminal behaviour, for example. But to fire a sixteen year old after one day, where the issues seem to be performance related rather than disciplinary seem to me to be a case of a manager who is either too stupid or too lazy to train staff. Now, if we were looking at a pattern of poor performance over a period of weeks, with no indication that the situation was going to improve, then I'd understand. But the proper answer to a customer complaint about the number of strawberries in her is cream is as follows: "Today is Snivy's first day, and I'm sorry if your ice cream wasn't up to our usual standard. Please have a coupon for a free ice cream on your next visit!"

So how not to repeat the mistake again? If I can only make one suggestion, it is to communicate with your supervisor. When you're not sure, ask. When you're asked, answer honestly.

The problem with "rules" in a job situation is that for the most part they are like English grammar, sure there are plenty of rules but just as many if not more exceptions. As a general rule a job that includes direct customer work is never going to function according to the rules, the whole "the customer is always right" stupidity has made sure of that. Add to it the entitlement issues on steroids most people seem to have these days and being in first-line customer service is about as degrading as being a slave on Spartacus.

My first job was in food service, and it was by far my most stressful occupation. Interacting with customer after customer fried every circuit in my head.

Since then, I move into mechanical and electrical trade jobs, and it has been easy sailing ever since. For the last few years I've been a mechanical engineer, I work nights, only interact with 1-3 people for short periods on any given work night, and my boss thinks I'm a godsend because I'm nearly completely autonomous and require almost zero managing.

Our aptitudes and issues do not serve us well in menial labor, or customer service work. But there are places us aspie folk do incredibly well in, and many of them are considered high end careers.

Besides, you get a sort of "free pass" from your job history after completing a degree or job trade training program. Even if your past is rocky, they care more about your recent history than the older stuff, and your recent history says you completed school! Don't let some crap job experience worry you another moment.