Worked at a zoo and can't stand the noise, it gets worse.

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This past summer I took a groundskeeping job at a zoo in my city. The zoo is NOT autism friendly! All of the buildings have heavy, squealing, banging doors. All need to be replaced, which will never happen.

Often I was assigned to work at the children's zoo, I would always have to wear earplugs not because of loud machinery but because the screeching of all the kids was very painful. I noticed no parent ever telling their kid not to do so or to use their "inside voice". One of the worst places was a fake fiberglass tree with a slide inside, I never vacuumed the carpet around there because the screaming was so intense in there. Several times I have told kids "that hurts" (it did!) and have to tell them to stop screaming. One boy screaming was about 9 or 10 and I told him it hurt and he said "was it too high pitch?" so he knew better and I had to tell him not to scream, I got an insincere "sorry" At that age, why do it?

I had to wear earplugs for the aquarium too as it had loud pumps and motors and it would become overcrowded and the kids scream and the parents yell. The worst part is that the way the building is set up, a guest would walk with no warning of how crowded it was in be trapped in the crowd. Oh, and people get that crowded, you can tell they don't use a deodorant when they go to the zoo either.

Most of my coworkers had lost their hearing (not surprised at that, surprised OSHA doesn't know) and were often very loud and I would often have to leave the lunchroom because I just couldn't stand it. It was hard to find a place to eat lunch in our backstage area that was not loud, hot, or smelled of garbage. All of the managers I dealt with are very loud too. In fact, I may have lost some of my hearing already.

Unfortunately, this issue led to be being laid off early. "Dug" was one of the managers and being somewhat taller than me, he would approach up close to people so he would end up shouting in my ear. I had told him it was very painful. Once at a morning meeting, I made the comment that I did not want to work with a certain person (who has a history of being mean to seasonal workers), at which time Dug got furious, yelled in my ear work with him, or go home and quit. I went to see Dug's supervisor, who then laughed me off. In fact, all the other workers say "that's Dug" and laugh me off.

One of the zookeepers who was nice to me suggested we go to Human resources and we did and the HR director just said that "Dug is a loud talker". I told her it was very painful and I get a silent treatment. It was then I agreed to leave and I would not be denied the unemployment.

I know some people here have issues with the noise, how do you deal with it? An audiogram shows "within normal limits" I may have a mild form of autism but even so why don't people believe me (or us)? Can anyone offer any advice or insight?

Unfortunately, this issue gets worse.

I lost my brother last week to liver failure caused by alcoholism (also no laughing matter). I saw his condition and was having a hard time dealing with this death in the family. There were two viewings at the funeral home and I wanted to go to the evening one to say goodbye to him for one last time, so I came toward the end of the evening viewing which was to end at 8 p.m., hoping I could go near him then.

My BIL Gary, who I may have mentioned before, is super loud talking all the time, a close talker, smells, and loudly coughs and clears his throat all the time. It was past 8:30 and he was still there, yakking his head off and would not stop. His voice carries into the other room too.

I asked my sister to take Gary away, he didn't listen. I told my mother this and she said "we can't do anything about him" why is she on his side? I am crying and I could not spend an unnoisy moment with my brother.

Gary seems to get away with all this because he is a doctor (primary care physician).

I would like to ask, if this happened to you, would you say something to Gary? I am trying to think of how to handle the situation.

Good Lord man! Working at that Zoo must be absolutely terrifying. That kind of a situation would cause crazy anxiety for me that's for sure. Especially when people get too close to me when they talk to me. As far as the other noises are concerned that would be extremely difficult for me to deal with and I would enter into bolt mode and never work there again.

Don't go back there ever again man!

I'm very sorry to hear about your loss of your brother, and that this Gary ruined any chance of you having a quiet, reflective moment. I think that's amazingly rude of him.

Of all times that family members may want quiet reflection and nobody chatting their ear off, it would be when at the side of the casket of a deceased loved one. I mean, what the F?? Somebody just blabbing on and on over a casket?

Anyone would have been totally in their rights to just say "GARY SHUT THE FCK UP." I wish I had done that at one or two moments that were ruined for me.

Different but similar, when I had to have my cat put to sleep, and I was holding him for his final moment, I wanted to just have some peace and quiet to look at him, talk gently to him, be present in his last moments.

Instead, the veterinarian who had administered the shots, just started chatting up a storm, chatty chatty chatty about completely inane stuff, I was distracted and irritated, looked back down at my cat, and the vet goes "Oh yeah he's already gone." I had missed my final moment because of this stupid, insensitive man.

There are limits to what can be done to help those with disabilities. There is no practical way to keep kids quiet.

About the kids at the zoo -- would it have been permitted for you to wear ear plugs? Just the small foam ones that fit into the ear canal and are not all that noticeable?

These can filter enough sound through that you can hear people speaking to you, and you will still hear the screaming kids but they can take the edge off the sharpness of kids' noises.

And to think a zoo should be a great place for aspies to work since most of us like animals so much. Sounds like the humans who visit act more like they live in a zoo than the animals. Go figure.

We don't have a zoo where I live. We have a wildlife park that's kid of like a zoo except most of the animals are native to our own land. It's actually part of a really big park that's very spacious and quite beautiful in the summer and fall.

I'm sorry you are going through all of this. If there's anything positive about the situation, when you find another job, it won't be as loud as the zoo. Heck, you could be a construction worker and have more peace and quiet vs. the zoo. I know things seem hard now, but with your experience working at the zoo, I'm sure you'll find something else that's better suited for you.

It sounds like this doctor fellow graduated from medical school, but not from the university of humanity. That's the way it can be in families, where certain people can get away with just about anything while others get no support at all. This isn't just due to autism, it's almost a rule that a family should be dysfunctional as in, literally not function correctly for even a day.

I hope you have some support to get you through these difficult times, because they aren't forever (it can just seem that way).

I have to disagree there. Every kid at that zoo is there because they have parents who brought them there. But I notice most parents are too lazy to tell their kids not to scream. As I described, I myself told a kid to shut up (to be truthful, at that point I did not mind if I got fired) but other workers there do not, maybe because they don't want to lose their union jobs with better pay. My parents told me not to scream so loud, why can't theirs.

I think Temple Grandin is right about 1950's parenting helping her be acceptable to the world, I think the same applies to the 60s-70s parenting I received too.

I did wear the earplugs at the aquarium and at the children's zoo. The issue is that one would not think a zoo would be an exceptionally noisy place, especially in guest areas. Our place is a sensory nightmare - we have banging, squealing doors, loud motors and chillers (all at the end of their life and not being replaced), those super loud hand dryers, and strong smells of garbage because our food vendor does not properly dispose of food waste. The nasty doors create a lot of ADA issues. For example, it took me and 2 other workers to get a person in a wheelchair through the doors of one of our buildings. But people keep coming so it must not bother them. Oh, and NONE of this chaos is caused by the animals at all.

You are right if you are a zookeeper because they are behind the scenes and near the exhibit buildings and are not on the human side as I am. But it is a hard job to get and you would have to play a lot of NT games to get such a position.

The humans are much worse than the animals! What I don't get is, why do all the NT people think Dug and Gary are so wonderful? They all make excuses for those 2 and I cannot believe after all this time someone has not told those 2 to not be so loud all the time and not come so close. Even if someone said "ouch, I can't stand them" that would make me feel better. Would Dug and Gary speak differently if not for the positions (management and doctor) that they are in?