not sure what to do-Is this part of my AS?

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Ok awhile back like 2 yrs ago when i was 18 I was involved with vocational rehabilitation to help me find a job. I had someone come to my house and take me to different places where i would be interested in working at first time i tryed out dishwashing job at a nursing home and then childcare job at a daycare. I'm not sure if this is part of my AS or not but I'm thinkin it probably is you tell me what you think.
Anyway the person who took me to these job places said i didnt seem ready to work. And all I can think is when i was at these jobs the lady that took me too them didnt hardly tell me what i was supposed to do there especially at the daycare one i just stood there i absolutly had no idea what to do and i thought i was just supposed to stand there and see what it was like i didnt know i had to help and get involved. Could this fall into the category for AS of not knowing what the heck to do in social situations like this? And it came to me by surprise to be told that I wasnt ready to work yet. I was confused cus when i was there i felt awkward and didnt know what i was supposed to do or say.

It is EXACTLY something a person with AS would do. Lol

I'm doing the same routine in some days. But I know the people helping me out has learned about this problem. And I know I will have problems with this.

Absolutely. I just kept asking questions. You might mention in that you need very clear instructions to whoever helps with the voc rehab.

i do this kind of thing a lot!! !!

Thanks guys Im glad im not alone! lol This is one of the reasons why i had no interest in getting a job.

Your voc rehab lady obviuosly does not know much about asperger's to put you in a daycare. Too much stimulation, unpredictability and too much social interaction.

You're first job needs to be something with low to moderate social interaction with clear job descriptions and more predictability.
Dog grooming was a good choice for me. I was the dog prepper which I bathed and dried the dog, then did nails, ears and checked for any skin problems. It is a good job for aspies cause alot of us work better with animals anyway, the routine is consistantly predictable, and the job descritions are pretty clear.

However if you are squeemish, this may not be the job for you because you also have to clean anal glands on small dogs. If you dont know, anal glands are sacks of stinky stuff that are a carryover organ from when dogs were skunk-like creatures and could spray. This stuff stinks sooo bad. But it needs to be done cause all dogs have to empty their anal glands, mostly done by rubbing their butts on the ground. however, small dogs dont weigh enough to exert the amount of presure to do it themselves, so people have to do it for them. However, it is important because if it builds up too long, it can get inflamed or even in the worst cases, rupture.
Because of this, most of the dogs you prep will be small dogs because owners either are too squeemish or dont know how to do this themselves.

Other than that, it is a rewarding job....and dont work for petsmart, they are rough on their groomers. Local groomers are the best places to go.

edit: also if you do a good job, your employer may train you to be a dog groomer which usually make a living wage...as long as you dont work for petsmart.

Jojo

yeah im actually looking at doing some game design or programming for my first job. Only problem is i'd have to move to the USA to work for a company like Activision.

Comes down to the people. Where I'm going for my volunteer position is math tutoring in a school for autistic students. It works well for me because math and ASDs are both special interests. Someone who has relevant special interests could work quite well in a daycare. Other people wouldn't work well.

However yes, clear job descriptions and predictability are important.



Completely irrelevant to the thread, but this is wrong. What anal glands are for is for scent identification, most carnivores have it. Dogs and cats both have them. Each animal has a unique scent. Its how they mark territory, as well as how they identify each other by scent. When dogs sniff each others butts when they meet, what they are doing is smelling the stuff in their anal glands.

They also don't empty them by rubbing them on the ground. How they are are normally excreted is via pressure via the dog's excrement. If the dog tends to have too soft of poop then they are much more likely to build up and start causing problems. When they build up to problematic amounts is when the dog starts rubbing their butts along the ground like that - that's when the human should interfere - because if it continues it can cause more significant problems, like you said. They can also excrete it suddenly when they're terrified, but that's much more uncommon to occur. Normally its just with waste and meeting other dogs.

Large dogs do also have this problem occur to them.

When it comes out all at once it is in fact quite smelly, but its meant to come out only a little at a time, not build up like that.

LoL thank you for clarifying that.. The dog grooming boss' husband who likes to play jokes on me told me that when I asked him about anal glands. Dont you hate it when NT's do that...they tell you BS and present it like a fact, when it is really a joke. uuurgg

thank you for correcting that, onward with the intention of the thread.

Jojo

Well actually it was my idea because I really enjoy to be with my niece and nephews and play with kids but too many kids that i dont know and dont know how they will react. It was overwhelming. And not really a good fit for me personally but im sure some aspies would be able to handle it quite well if they like that kind of thing.

I am surprised she didn't even tell you what you are supposed to be doing. I would have been lost too if she didn't tell me what I am to do there. I am also surprised no one showed you what to do. People always show their new employers what they are supposed to be doing when they are new. I would have been asking tons of questions.

This sounds a lot like how I would react to this situation.

What's also frustrating to me is this unwritten rule that you're expected to ask questions, like at job interviews and such. I mean, I guess I understand the whole "You want to make it so you seem interested" thing, but if I have no questions...I have no questions!

Well when i did the dishwashing job at the nursing home my voc. rehab lady took me there and one of the employees who was also a dishwasher was the one who showed me what to do. And that was ok because i think they were used to the voc. rehab person taking other people there because they all seemed to know each other.
But the daycare job was different no one showed me nothin the girls there were young and i felt awkward infront of them my voc. rehab lady just kept talking to them and i was just standin around. I guess now i know but at the time i didnt t but i think she expected me to interact with the kids thats the only thing i can think of cus she said i didnt seem ready for the work environment..And i was soo confused and kept thinkin well what the heck did u want me to do..lol

Yeah i know you're right! lol i am like that too i never ask questions because i just dont have any.

I am lost in most of my jobs too.

Only with clear instruction and direction i can work better

I remember in one organisation where i worked as a secretary my boss kept telling my manager that i am not a independent worker unlike our other branch secretary who does all work on her own without guidance.

Basically as a child i was not allowed any decision making and had to follow whatever my parents told.

I am tongue tied also most of the time.

I wouldn't. I only feel free to question people I know and feel safe with. I'd have just stood there wondering why they'd not given me any instructions, I'd have suspected that I'd overlooked something they'd said before, and I'd be reluctant to risk revealing my ignorance. If it was something I'd specifically chosen for myself it might be different, because my enthusiasm could override my reluctance to approach people for help (and if I really like a job, I will already have boned up on it), but if it's just a randomly-imposed thing like mst jobs seem to be, I think it would be a case of waiting for the one who pushes me around to push me around. I really don't see why I should be expected to do anything if the taskmaster can't be bothered to tell me clearly what they want me to do. I've tried guessing what they want, but I usually guess wrong, and once I've started a task, I hate it when somebody wades in and says "no, you're doing it wrong." Unless they're VERY tactful about it.

I'm surprised they didn't say what they wanted. It's not as if they're offering a huge salary for employee initiative. I think I'd have said something about it when they told me I wasn't suitable for that task. I hope I'd have said something like "well if you try telling me what I'm supposed to do once in a while, you might get better results. You never told me a damned thing, you just put me there and left me to flounder!" I wouldn't find it easy, but I get so sick of being misunderstood, letting them get away thinking I'm the problem when they themselves bear some of the responsibility.