For those who don't have employment

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I do work now, but I didn't really work until very late.

When I was growing up, I didn't have a desire for many things. I had the only things I really was interested in getting, so I didn't try to get a job when I was in high school. I got basically offered a job anyway, working at a fast food restaurant. I quit after less than a month, in large part because I hated hated hated the feel of oil on my skin.

When I was in high school and in college, I didn't have an understanding of forming any kind of social network or connections. I didn't know that that's how a lot of people get jobs. I never joined any clubs. I wouldn't talk to very many people. When I was in high school some of my teachers commented on that, and they described me as "aloof". I would attend classes and come home immediately, to focus on my one interest. I'd do the same every day.

I had to leave college because of some major problems in my first year. After that year I was really depressed and almost never left home for the next year. One day I was told about a job opening at a call center, and I applied there, to do tech support. I was very good at fixing problems, and got 100% on my reviews all but one time, when I got a 97%. But I hated the work. Many of the people I'd talk to were abusive, and the employers treated me terribly, moving my hours around a lot. I decided to try college again and left after working there through a summer.

When I was in college, some people in one of my classes asked me for my contact information, but I didn't know why, and I didn't bother to give it to them. I graduated never having gone to a single person's home, never having kept any people's numbers, and never having asked anyone for reference. The idea of a reference was something I never would have conceived.

After I graduated, I knew that I was expected to get a job, but I had very little concept of how to do that. I could fill out applications, but I had very little on my résumé, had no contacts, had no appreciable major contact with people, and the only way I could have gotten a reference was by going back to a college and talking to professors I had barely ever spoken with and whom I didn't know. A few times I was able to get an interview, but the few times that I actually was able to get an interview I completely messed those up. I later found out that some of the things I had said in interviews were terribly bad things to say in interviews.

I was convinced that no one would ever hire me, regardless of how well I knew the subject. I thought that for years. I didn't work because I didn't know how to get to be allowed to work.

I only got a job after finding this site and learning about AS. After I did I researched how to design and write résumés, and the specific behaviors and deliberate body language to use when having an interview. I also searched YouTube for specific information about how to handle interviews.

I found this video very useful:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0O4jnIpFB4[/youtube]

I have been able to handle my current job very well because I have encyclopedic knowledge about the subject. At times, my behavior has been questioned, but that hasn't happened within the past few years, and they have allowed accommodation for my sensory issues. I've also received praise and good reviews for the quality of my work and very good attention to detail.

My story is kind of IRONIC. I interview for jobs EXTREMELY WELL (over the years I've learned eye-contact) get the job & have it for about 3 months. By then, I know the job & the other employees decide they don't like me. I've been sabotaged, had "friends" stab me in the back (metaphorically that is) and have had MANY people approach the boss & say "she goes or I go" and in the end, I was the one given the pink slip. Funny, but the bosses always seem regretful (had one tell me that he WISHED the other gal would go...I did the job so much better) but I was still the one unemployed.

That's ok. I finally went & applied for disability. Was approved & now I don't have to work. I often think of those schmucks that got me fired & LAUGH because their Social Security payments are what I get for my disability. (One of those warm, fuzzy kind of thoughts!)

I had a job last summer (I live in the southern hemisphere) as a dish monkey in a local restaurant. They laid me off in march because they couldn't afford to keep having me on (i.e too f***ing cheap). I have a reasonable arsenal of music gear and hope to get a shed built and acoustically isolated in the coming year if I'm not dead by then (which I won't be since most doomsday theorists are full of s**t). The only option for me now is starting my own business.

Because I married into a family with money and when my husband doesn't bring home enough for the bills etc, he can simply get family money for them. Also, we decided that the kids needed a stay at hom Mom more than we would need my extra income.

Frances

"Insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result."

That, and I got burned when I sold my car, so now I have no vehicle to get to work. I can use my mother's car, but if she needs her car, then I'll probably be fired. Plus right now I'm basically going through a nervous breakdown of sorts. I did have 2 jobs, and both were terrible for me.

One was a restaurant where I had to do delivery/everything else where I got paid $6 an hour plus tips, but the owner never gave clear instructions at all. He literally just expected you to show up and make yourself busy, which I was good at, but I apparently couldn't read his mind and know what he wanted me to do at any given moment. So I'd be washing dishes, and he'd want tables done, then get pissed at me for not doing tables. Also, my sense of direction completely killed me when doing deliveries in Hartford. He also told me "Your eyes are everywhere, you look like you just robbed a bank," regarding my eye contact. I mean, to be fair, not too many last there, but yeah.

My last job I had recently was selling windows. I sorta liked it in some ways. I liked the booths, and selling windows at shows. I'm somewhat good at selling stuff if I have just scriptless, but this place would get mad for you not using the script. I didn't do bad, all things considered, at the selling windows to real people at the shows, and the shows were really fun and usually were carnivals and stuff like that and had fireworks at the end. So pretty fun really. The big part was I couldn't do the cold calls for some reason, I'd like, drink like 4 cups of coffee in a 3 hour shift and just get really distressed or angry at the constant rejection and complete pointlessness of it all. You know, I'd have to call people like 18 months after a show and they'd be like "dude, that was 1 year and a half ago, I don't want your windows" and I couldn't really reasonably give a rebuttal to that. What broke it was a combo of me wanting to go on vacation with my family, and I figured it'd be my last family vacation, and due to circumstances, I hadn't gone on a family vacation for 3 years. That, and they said I didn't know the script well and my eye contact/oddness issues.

So, that's why I'm not working.

I haven't been at all able to find a job environment that I have any chance of surviving a job in. Migraines triggered by hypersensitive senses are harsh.

Also I've only gotten one interview and it went poorly.

I don't work because there are no jobs to be had here, fullstop.


If there were any, my:

inability to make eye contact
immediately being emotionally overwhelmed (think bursting into tears) when faced with chaotic environments
inability to perform basic tasks like counting change, telling time on an analog clock, and talking to strangers
cardiovascular disease requiring me to stay off my feet

make it impossible for me to find employment in entry-level positions,
which, since I don't have a degree or skill certification,
are the only ones I might have a chance in securing.

well because I cannot seem to keep a job without getting fired or criticized for the way my brain functions....so yeah not so good at that fast paced deal with b*tchy customers stuff. Not to mention I am a bit of an idealist I guess so I don't think ones purpose in life should be to work a job they hate for barely enough to get by on in the hopes that someday they will get reimbursed with material things. So that interferes with me and working as well.

I've had the same job for 15 years, but it's been getting progressively worse. I'm nearly at the point where I can't work more than a few hours a day before I either burn out or just shut down. I come late, leave early, call in sick frequently. I told my management what I'm dealing with and since I'm expecting testing in December they have been cutting me some slack but I'm scared to think what happens after December. I'm lucky that I work for a university and the management is very supportive, but I can't expect this t last for much longer. If its is really AS then I think technically they can't fire me but, to be honest, I'm suffering at this job and there is really little they can do to accommodate my limitations. It turns out that I have a decent disability insurance. I might go that way, because I can't imagine going through job interviews now. I will rather kill myself.

I don't have a job because I can't get past the interview. I can't make eye contact and I stutter and the job goes to someone else.
Ive had jobs before but I was bullied at work. I haven't worked in years because most of the jobs where I live are in the service industry and I never want to do that kind of work again. It was very depressing.

I love working, but burn out quickly. After 6 month, I am hyper aware of the social dynamics: who hates who, who is manipulating who. By the year mark, it is so distracting I can't focus on the work. Then the headache sets in. Wall-to-wall headache at work or the next 6 months. Then I have a complete breakdown and sometimes end up in the psych ward.

Then I am unemployed. It takes a while to get my head back together. Then repeat the process, as above.

Compound that with leaving the town you've worked in your whole professional life. Back home, when I wanted a new job, I could just talk to a couple people and have a new job within a week. Now that I am in a new market, nobody recognizes my references. Plus I'm freaking old for a professional line cook who can't be a manager. So I get a lot of ageism bias now, too. My abilities don't matter as much as the hiring Chef's suspicions and preconceptions.

I have always suspected something like that was going on behind the scenes. It's a sucky thing, but that's how our system functions. Those with more money (the employers) have the ability to buy the politicians and have the system biased in their favor.

...

@matt: Great video! Stefan Molyneux is a brilliant man. I have listened to many of his podacsts, he has great insight on many topics. I suggest to others to look him up on the internet. His site is called "freedomain radio"

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Me? Why haven't I worked?
For one, my resume sucks. I have such huge gaps in employment, that I can barely ever get an interview. And the longer one is out of work, the worse one looks on paper.
Also, having no social life, it's tough to get any job leads. Most folks rely on "networking" socially in order to get jobs. Few social contacts, means few job leads.The only times I have worked, it was by luck, knowing someone on the inside, someone who already works there, who can give me a good reference.
I'm also not very good with the phone. What I mean is I have a hard time making inquiry & follow up calls. Even ordering a pizza is very stressful, let alone calling a business and inquiring about job openings. I have a very hard time talking to people I do not know on the telephone.

I have no idea how and where to get a job. I don't drive or have anyone to drive me so I'd have to be able to walk or take a bus to get there. I'm not good with people so I can't do things like work a register or things that would require much interaction with people. I'm weak so I can't do a lot of heavy manual labor. With nearly any job I got before long I'd be so tired of being out of my home so much I'd eventually just stop going and staying home. That was a big problem for me when I was in school and got me in a lot of trouble.

I've actually never had a full time job and haven't worked at all in 10-15 years. I've only had two jobs in my life. I had a paper route for two weeks and a part time cleaning job for 5 weeks. I just couldn't stand them any more and quit. I didn't have to do an interview for either of those jobs. I've only done one interview in my life and it was unsuccessful.

I'd try for social security but I seems like I can't even do that myself. I did the online application but I couldn't call back so I think I have to give up on that. The ideal thing for me to do would be some kind of work from home thing but I don't know how to get into that.

i cant find work. i want a job but there are none and i dont know how to look for one, how to write a resume, how to go through interviews and i dont want to do it my fathers way- sucking up to people, making friends on the basis that one day they will put in a good word for you with their boss or their friend who owns some buisiness because it seems like a dishonest way to get a job. and i dont want to make false friends and use people to get a job. ive a feeling my work history and political associations and minority status isnt gonna help. and my parents are an obstruction.

Because I have Aspergers . LoL Working is a great fear of mine, It stress's the hell out of me. Also I have pretty low self eestem when it comes to this type of situation. Work makes me a zombie, Sucks all the goodness and personality out of me causing me to feel very unconfortable. Although i'm with a job network now who help people with disabilities. I know that working will help me , I really need to push myself because it will make me feel better. Sitting around all day doesnt make you the happiest chap around.

In the US, there are medical researchers who hold anything from a bachelor's to a PhD. The only difference between those educated for the position is the degree of control over the experiment, diagnostics, or research one has; PhD being the one who would design experiments, conduct research and organize the lab team (this management duty may be passed on to administration in large facilities and the PhD would be a department head). There are four year programs especially designed for lab technicians who do assays, tissue prep, etc. that work in hospitals, but don't interact with the patients directly. * sorry there is a pun there! *

And to answer the question, I've always quit before I could get fired. I've also mostly worked as a cashier! haha I've been without regular, full time employment all of my life. I'm 34.