My life has been a mess since going to college (Im 30 now). I feel like an high functioning person with many of the issues I see described here.
I randomly got into a form of sales and became one of the best in the country (Top 5 out of 2500+ people for several years). It was in a subject that I knew well, and I was able to overcome my previous crippling shyness/social anxiety and actually talk to customers. I could 'fake' being nice and sell. I didn't 'screw' people. I just played the part better than anyone else, because the whole THING was a show.
Besides engineering that I never used again, 'sales' became my passion and my study. I would critique other salespeople to a level they didn't understand. Theyd say to a customer "I'll call you later with that info" and I would argue "No no, its much better if you say Ill call you SOON, not later!" and no matter what they weren't really convinced, even though I would outsell them by a factor of 3-4 times.
I've talked to a few people and they feel I cant possibly be 'an aspie' as they say, because Im 'too good at reading people and interacting with them!' But I feel it was all LEARNED in this one special format, and because I had to learn it instead of just winging it.
I've taken several tests online.. the ones that use that 50 point test score, I got a 42 on. The site that has the fancy graph I got mixed with about 110 on each scale.
I guess my question is, is it possible to be on 'the spectrum' but also do well in a field people typically would say is entirely based on interacting with people? Also, what does this even mean? What am I supposed to do about the rest of my life?
17 Feb 2015, 7:11 am
