can you handle multiple tasks?

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can you do two things at a time? because i cant, and just wondering if it's an aspie thing, or it's just me. when i used to work in fast food restaurants, the manager told me to stock up the drawers with ketchup packages etc. and i got so involved in what i was doing i didnt notice the customers going to the counter and talking to me. i didnt see or hear them. you can get in trouble on the job for that, although i didnt get fired.

I think I handle them fine like everyone else.

I handle them ok, but I struggle to prioritise things if Im obsessively focused on one thing.

I have that problem when Im studying.

Having two different things to do can drive me to complete inaction. Instead of doing one and then the other, in many cases I end up doing neither.

What I'm best at is concentrating on one thing for hours at a time without interruption, particularly writing software. But if I have something else that I need to do as well, I can no longer concentrate on what I'm doing and end up accomplishing nothing at all.

I don't know which to vote. I'd rate my multi-tasking ability as "below average". I can do some, but not very well and don't like it much. It's usually easy if one task is repetitive and don't require brain, or that I'm so familiar with it I don't need to think at all, then I can manage that and another task OK. But I can't do two or more things that all require attention or precision. Like I can sing while doing almost anything, I can play some games (like jigsaw puzzles) while talking or thinking. I can browse online while talking on the phone. I can cook multiple things at the same time, but they need to require all different cooking method. Like one thing baked in the oven, one boiled on stovetop, one being microwaved and one being stir-fried. I can't boil two pots of things or stir-fry two dishes at the same time. Dinner and the multiple dishes are carefully planned so the slowest start first and they'll all be done at about the same time. I'm rather good at prioritizing, so I make plans and pick out what's the top priority really quickly.

No.

Nononononononono........

Yeah...this is pretty much me. Cooking in particular is a major problem for me. I can make beans on toast but anything more complicated and there is a very good change I will get completely overwhelmed and stressed/angry for the rest of the evening. Multitasking feels like walking a tightrope and, while not impossible, the slightest thing can knock me completely off balance. and I am talking about something even really trivial like the salt not being where I expected it or the pasta taking slightly longer than I anticipated. If I get through cooking a meal without 'hitting a red' as my wife likes to put it, it is usually more through sheer luck than anything else.

I also write software for a living but my productivity nosedives any time I am asked to divide my attention with some other task. Though, I am not working at full capacity anyway given high levels of stress and anxiety I have been feeling since discovering my likely AS - had to fully concentrate on anything for long with this stuff running through your head.