Bad Jobs for Aspies/ASD

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When I worked, I always WISHED it was just boring. Because that wouldn't mean overwhelming anxiety and confusion.

I've had a number of different jobs, both good and bad....

When I was in high school, I worked in a law firm. My favorite part was filing away documents, copying, running errands. At the end of the day, when the main secretary left but my boss and I were still there (the attorney), I had to answer the phones. When I found out I had to do this, I freaked out. I'm not real suave on the phone. When I get nervous, I choke or if I can even manage a reply, it sounds like I'm crying.

I worked at an extremely busy Starbucks once, the kind on the rich side of town. People were snobby and rude. As a cashier, I had to not only take people's orders but also deal with changing the standard coffee every thirty minutes. Luckily, they had timers. I wouldn't have remembered them, otherwise. Not until later anyway. But then there was the decision on whether to to change the coffee and make the next person wait (not good to let them wait) or ignore it and continue the order with that loud, obnoxious alarm sound going off, which interrupted my whole thought process. Then, there was making the espresso-based coffees. I'm a perfectionist and I'm really slow, especially if there are multiple orders. I get way too overwhelmed.

Then I worked at a UPS Store. By this point, I was a little better about socializing with customers. But if I got something wrong and a customer (or my boss) got mad, I essentially would just freeze in place, possibly stutter if I said anything. I'm also very sensitive, so there was a lot of crying involved.

Just this year, I worked at an amusement park. This wasn't so bad. I would often try to run the food or fill the drinks instead of doing cash register. And all my co-workers were my age and easy to get along with. I'm sure I seemed a little weird sometimes. In fact, I know I was a little weird sometimes. But they were able to look over a lot of this, because I've managed over these few years to gain some skills in working with other people.

I can't wait to graduate from college and get a job that I hope I will like. Further down the road, I will teach. For now, I'd like to work one-on-one with people. I'm a lot more comfortable this way.

I worked as a janitor through high school and college. There was hardly any stress and I liked the physical nature of the job. I think a person could make a living out of it, if they found a position, with decent pay, and benefits in an area where rural subsidized apartment/housing is available.

Worked in a College bookstore in the stocking area, not a bad temporary job for a non-verbal Aspie.

Worked in Archaelogy; Great short term job for a non-verbal Aspergers person. The physical nature of the job was good. Plenty of atypical people working in this line of work. Sorting and labeling charcoal and bone fragments, though, can get boring. Also, hard to make a living at this unless you get a University position as a professor. No way, I could handle presenting verbal information day after day.

I also, had an easy time with academics. I attribute it mostly to laser focus and the ability to retain information. The input stuff was easy, the output was hard; thankfully, multiple choice and one sentence answers were the desired testing method in those days.

I would of never been able to be a short order cook or cashier at McDonalds or Walmart because of deficit in short term working memory.

Worked in a small Military Bowling Center for 18 years; best job I can imagine. If you ever saw the TV show "Cheers", the atmosphere was like that. Most of the customers were retired military people, who were well disciplined, and easier to deal with than people in the general public. Many of these retirees were regulars who I developed "long term acquaintances" with. I got the opportunity to watch people and greatly improve social skills. Stable job with good benefits, because it was a government job.

If you can find a government job, somehow, I highly recommend it. These jobs have higher job security/benefits than the private sector and they can't get rid of you, just because you act a little different. There were quite a few people working with me that I suspect were somewhere on the Autism Spectrum.

When computers came along I finally gained some skills that made me uniquely valuable as an employee. This helped me stay in the work force but took me to places beyond my natural abilities. I think sometimes we do specialized things so well and are so conscientious/loyal that people can't imagine we have difficulty with the everyday things they take for granted.

I think the worst possible jobs for any person on the spectrum are associated with Management/Supervision. Because my computer/analytical skills were needed, I became Manager at the Bowling Center, a Community Activities Director and an Athletic Director for the Military Installation.

One negative aspect of a government job is that you can become involved in the "golden handcuffs" syndrome. No matter what job you are put in, it is hard to go elsewhere, when you get close to the end of your career. Job security, a pension, and lifetime health benefits for you and your family are waiting for you.

When I was in school, when there were no computers, the chances of ever becoming an Athletic Director were essentially zero; I didn't have the coordination or desire for any team sport and usually was the last person picked for any team in general PhysEd. The adrenaline, required to do the supervision, and social role playing associated with the Athletic Director job, literally, almost killed me.

I'm thankful I could find jobs and had the opportunity to work most of my life; the structure, routine, and motivation, kept me moving forward. My wife was also fortunate to do this with a lifelong disability.

There is a huge stigma in our society if you can't find work, or can't work because of a disability; especially when it is of a mental/neurological or pain condition, that others cannot see or possibly imagine. I see a "survival of the fittest/discard all others mentality" in our society that I have not seen in my lifetime.

Unless you have access to Doctors and have Medical Documentation, it is hard to get qualified for disability assistance. Unfortunately, many people with Aspergers and related mental impairments don't have a job and/or insurance, or the money required to get the documentation required from medical doctors. I hope to see this change in the future.

Would an airplane hostess count?
Those people annoy me soooo much that i want to punch them in the face
I did once

Yep. I was the master of multiple choice exams. I would specifically look through the course outline for multiple choice, short answer or calculation-type exams because I could not do essay exams. I knew the answers but I could not organize my thoughts.

P.S. How about military careers? I know it's usually disdained but all the order, etc. would kinda make it easier. But I do hate authority. I was thinking of applying into the Canadian armed forces as an medical/health care officer if I mess up again, assuming they even look at me (previous drug abuse and anxiety disorders). Any experiences with military-type positions.

I was more comfortable around military people, because of their disciplined and predictable nature. All the rules, regulations, and structure suited me well. As I look back, I think there were quite a few military people with noticable Asperger traits with career avenues that suited them well. The military is not a good place to be if you hate authority. Generally the leaders are great but a few do come along that abuse their rank. In the US, a person with a history of drug abuse and anxiety disorders might get it, depending on the severity of the issues, the person's present mental health, and how much their services are needed; I'm not sure how this would work in Canada.

How about in the business world? Wall Street? Pure hell for me!! !

I think Dentistry could be a good job for aspies. You have to deal with patients talking but from what I've seen a lot of dentist kind of just agree and say uh huh and keep on working.

I want to be a dentist, the mouth is very interesting.

I studied dentistry for half a year. I quit partly because I found it boring, partly because I had performance anxiety as I was scared my hands would shake and I would put a drill through a patient's cheek. Plus people are always complaining. I guess the social thing is okay. Personally, I think any health field involving a lot of direct contact with patients would be tough for an Aspie or someone who has performance anxiety.

So far I haven't been successful in actually getting many jobs, but the only two I got, dishwashing and tagging & ironing clothes in a store have been tiring. Both of them don't actually involve huge amounts of interaction, at least not with the public, and although they don't use the brain I found them to be very physically tiring (especially dishwashing). I'm not sure if that's some sort of the opposite of ADHD (which I believe some aspies have?) but I've had problems with energy for a few years now.

My ideal job, as I imagine it (although it's not that idealized in my mind, it's just much better than the drone work I tried above and would actually sate my interests) would be helping people with computers - although as there are so many jobs in that field, technician, troubleshooter etc. I'm not sure which exactly I'd fit in. But, since I have personal experience with PCs, I imagine that would be the nearest it comes to a good job.

I find it hard to attain a balance between boring and overwhelming myself. Of course, part of that is due to the fact that I have a difficult time either saying no or judging how long it will take me to do something, so I'm always like, "Sure! I can do that!" when, in fact, I actually need more time.

Aside from that, these days being a self-employed developer, designer, writer, etc., is a pretty good choice, I think, because there is less need for going out and talking to clients. You can find them via the web.

My worst job was cashier, but it wasn't making change that was the problem. I was constantly being reprimanded for not smiling and talking enough to the customers. That and, when some lady put her money on the belt and it got sucked under, I got into an argument with her over who was the idiot (obviously her, as she put it there).

i have had different jobs , i will list the best and worst ever.
worst: waitress. please, run around in a skirt carrying a hundred things without spilling anything, will you? and then come back knowing who ordered what ,and also, if you could smile at everyone at all time? thanks. not for me.
worst 2: beautician. in shop: pretend to be arranging stuff on shelves , in skirt and heels, perfect hair and perfect makeup and perfect gait and perfect smile, and your boss is judging your smile. then customer service beuargh.....In beauty salon: hands in greasy/burning hot/disgusting stuff, on dirty people, pop their pimples ( i actually like that part but some people might find it repulsive) try to remember every move of every routine in a face massage french style, don't drop a single drop of wax anywhere, talk and smile the whole time. pass me the gun, thanks.

best: curiously enough: dancer. brasilian samba etc dancer, in restaurants and discos. practiced routine, go on stage, no social interaction with strangers at all, brasilian culture was my special interest at the time, so i was in my element. dance, sweat, laugh a lot at mistakes only you and your collegues can spot since people watching you are all french and know nothing about the routine, go home i know it might be atypical for an aspie but it fit my interest of that time perfectly, i loved every minute of it.

That's interesting about dancing. I hate being put on the spot, yet I play live music sets without being nervous at all, so I can relate in a sense.

I used to work at a call center for 7 years, the first month or so was well but after I got the hang of it and it was no problem. I was doing tech support. I later got hired onto different teams, the last two where chat support (which was GREAT) and completing customer tickets which was computer work, did not have to chat to a single customer, I liked that one too because I got to listen to my iPod all day as I worked. I quit because they got rid of the teams and wanted to place me back at the very beginning, and I worked way too hard to go back there again,

now I work as a housekeeper at a 5-start hotel... and I LOVE it! No stress, it's the same routine with every room, and customer interaction is very minimal. The pay isn't too bad, the only downside is hours depends on how many guests the hotel has. The dead season is winter, so we all get EI until it picks up again in spring.

Here is some of the work I have done (though as I keep saying, I might just be someone with traits of the spectrum):

Bad:

McDonalds....... You have to multi-task and remember little things to check a lot, I couldn't handle it. Too fast-paced
Department Store.... This was better, but it involves lots of social interaction
Teaching...... I had a shutdown in front of a bunch of little kids before... I was told never to teach again. They are very stressful because you are trying to keep their attention and stuff. I did outdoor teaching, probably better than classroom because most of the time I had another adult to help me, but still


Good:

Library work....... I did great at opening boxes and checking them against inventory and at re shelving books. Not much stress at all.
Scientific Research...... I did outside research, all by myself. I was given a list of things to get done or I figured out the more important things, then the rest of the day was spent on side-things and I got to choose what those were. Little to no social interaction, write down data.

Emergency call operator. probably the worst job you could think of.

I enjoyed the training, once they put me in the hot seat I froze. I lasted about a minute I don't have the capacity to think and act under pressure and my short term memory is poor. What the hell was I thinking?? Live and learn I say.