Meltdowns at Work

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If you have meltdowns at work, how do you deal with them?

I am a waitress/bar assistant, which I know is a bad choice of job, but it was the only one going and I seem to be having at three meltdowns within a shift. If I am on bar, then there is no quiet place to go, and if I am on the floor then there is limited time to hide in the toilets. My doctor is referring me for a diagnosis for AS but this will take a long time so I was wondering what your experiences were?

Thanks

Bonafan

try to provide a safe place in your head, favorite memories, songs, ideas... and develop a routine how to handle things:
for example: if there is a complaint, count to 10, take time to look for the menager atc.

not a very good environment to keep your sanity. gum chewing & bathroom breaks, & slow/deep breathing are all i can think of. exercising before your shift may help as well (& getting 8-9hrs of sleep).

if all else fails, picture all of your customers naked. especially the fat/old ones (no offense). it may help keep things lighthearted & calm.

I recommend "getting it all out of your system" as much as you can before work. Get tons of sleep. I lay under my weighted blanket and rest for at least an hour before I have to get ready for work. I stim as much as I feel like, engage in echolalia as much as I want to, and tic until I'm tired of ticcing.

The only job I've ever succeeded at was in a quiet, orderly lab, with statistics to work on, and with a place always available where I could go to be alone in case of meltdown. Ironically, I never used it--it was just the fact that it was available that helped enough that I never actually needed it!

Other jobs, eventually I would just get so disorganized that I wasn't taking care of myself properly; eventually, I'd simply be too tired, sick, achy, and generally out of sorts to be able to drag myself out of bed and to work. Usually within the first week I'd have to give up everything but working and recovering from work--no free time, no hobbies, no nothing. And that included weekends. The eventual burnout, after a couple of months, was unsurprising.

I feel lucky to have a less demanding job.