I might be the most dysfunctional person on the planet

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I have pretty much given up on myself.

I was at a vending machine the other day. They had some Cappuccino chocolate chip cookies I wanted to try. Being the failure I have been my entire life I did not want to mess this up and get the wrong item.

I had to make sure I had the correct corresponding code for the cookies which was labeled underneath. I then needed to make sure I entered the code correctly on the keypad. I took 10 seconds to make sure I got it right which is a lot of time for a menial task.

Of course I failed. I read the code above the cookies which corresponded to Chex Mix instead of the code below.

Time and time again. It never ends. Nobody can convince me autism is not a mental disability. It all ties in.

That's the sort if petty mistake I make every day. But, hard as it sometimes us, I know I have strengths that compensate for things like this.

If you were really "the most dysfunctional person on the planet" you wouldn't be capable of posting here.

Pretty typical mistake for me to make as well. Useful trick: find the top or bottom item, and see if the code is above or below it.

And if the most dysfunctional person on the planet was the guy who messed up using a vending machine, I'd say the world would be a much better place than it is.

If you work in retail you get customers who do things like that all of the time.

Think that a price on the shelf applies to the product below when it applies to the product above.

Or worse.

A lady will raise a stink at the register, and make you follow you to the aisle where she got an item that you supposedly overcharged her for, and point out the price she expected on the shelf...and it will be a price on a sticker identifiying an item three shelves down, and eight price stickers to the left of the place on the shelf where she got the item. The two things a separated by about fifty different items sitting atop fifty different shelf stickers. But she liked that particular price...and she wants THAT price for the thing she wants. Folks see what they wanna see!

I guess money can make anyone become as "mentally disabled" as you supposedly are!

I do things like that all the time

For example I put the book in the video pile at the library

Librarian told me it was ok

In a different situation, it would take a lot of time money and energy to fix

The world contains seven billion precious lil "people"

Only one is the most dysfunctional



Global area functioning is partially subjective


Otherwise you can't measure functioning per se

I get these thing can happen to anyone. The biggest point of my post was that I took 10 seconds to try and avoid the problem and it still occurred.

I get flummoxed by vending machines all the time. I know that, and have tried many tips to get it right, but the failure rate is still high. Therefore I do not use vending machines unless I am willing to lose the money necessary to buy repeated wrong things until I get the one I want.

More to your point, aspies do have different neurology and also associated neurological difficulties. I'm assuming since this hit you hard enough to post, is that you frequently feel that you fail on things most people can do. Me too. Most of us, too.

It is easy - done it many times myself - to fall into the trap of saying to ourselves, "I am so stupid I can't even work a vending machine."

When you could say - and what I believe is true - "Stupid vending machines. They probably set this up to make it more difficult and therefore sell more and make more money. Someone in engineering ought to be able to design one that is easier and more accurate to work."

We all, NTs and NDs included, have things we can't do and things we can. I believe the best results are obtained, personally, when I focus on the things and I do well and not my failures. I have lived long enough that if I even remembered all my failures, it would take me into the next century.

Or this might not apply to you at all. In which case, just dismiss whatever doesn't help you.

I would tend not to judge you by your success with vending machines. They are wild beast and often have a will of their own.

Most times they eat your money and give you no product in return. Then you have to track down the vender to get your money back. Sometimes the product falls into a region inside the machine rather than in the bin for removal. Then you try and shake the machine or reach your inverted hand into the beast.

I remember one time when I purchase an item and the change part of the machine misfunctioned and started ejecting nickels like a slot machine, one after another, until it filled the change cup and began to spill out on the floor. I think I landed up with $20 of nickels. Then I had to track down the vendor in order to return the change.

And then there was the time when I was in the hot desert and wanted a cold coke. I put in my quarters and a cold can of coke popped out and a small kitten. I thought it was funny. So I put in a couple more quarters and sure enough out popped another cold can of coke and another kitten.

Like I say vending machines are just plain weird!

WELL... pat yourself on the back buddy for being the BEST!
The best at demeaning yourself and over-exaggerating your inability!
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I mean... you were able to come on to WP and make the post.
You obviously don't fail at everything!
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I've done this to myself for the first (hopefully) half of my life.
It's just a way to keep ones own self down emotionally.
You have some disconnect with the vending machine. But instead of being able to detach yourself from any previous failed attempts with it... you go back and set yourself up for failure because you are expecting failure.
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Look... I can tell it sucks for you. But you should really take an honest look at your life and see that you are succeeding day-to-day. Focus more on what is coming together to help you succeed at those things you can do.
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One of my personal issues is knocking stuff over with my hands. Even my girlfriend laughs and comments about how I go through a room and my hands are knocking s**t over.
...and it FRUSTRATES ME to no end, at times!...
Yet... I can thread a 35ft Gillig bus through a tight street, in between a large freight truck on one side and a line of parked cars on the other side, such that passengers seem dumbfounded how I got us through it without any contact.
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In regards to the negative s**t...
Maybe try focusing on what you are physically feeling, mentally thinking, when you start to approach something you typically fail at.
This helped me out a lot! A therapist got me there by asking if I could recall the physical feelings I had prior to a specific event we were discussing.
Once I started looking at the build-up to something I typically felt was going to go wrong... I really started understanding how early I started bringing down my expectations for myself prior to whatever it was I was heading in to.
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Might not work for you.
You might find another tool/technique that will though, and I hope you do.
Stop focusing on something like, "I suck at working a simple vending machine!", and start focusing on, "When, why, and how do I start to set myself up for failure before I get to the vending machine?"
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I spent the first 30+ years of my life not being able to recall what the paragraph I had just read, stated.
Wasn't until I figured out some things to do prior to, and during my reading that I finally found success.
It's not 100% of the time... but then... I'm no longer PERFECT... or expecting myself to be.
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I really hope you can gain control of the self-defeating mindset you expressed in this thread.
I really do see you as being successful, even if solely by having made your way online, onto a forum specific for your needs, and successfully posting your vending machine experience.
Seriously.... working a computer and navigating the internet is often MUCH harder for people than operating a vending machine!
You're sh*****g on yourself for the wrong reasons.
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Hope things get better for you!

Haven't used a vending machine since 2002,wouldn't dare.

I was talking about vending machines specifically. Last time I was going for Famos Amos cookies and ended up with Rold Gold pretzels. And I was furious because I was trying to be careful.

But it happens with other things as well of course.

And I don’t know what either of those are!
But yes, I’ve had the same: the hot drink vending machine in the design department at uni was particularly troublesome: why have black coffee when it can give you oversweetened soup?

Well that's a bit dramatic. Not getting the item you wanted because you entered the code incorrectly is very annoying, but it hardly qualifies you as the most dysfunctional person in the entire world. All human beings are dysfunctional to some degree, but I'm sure NTs make the same mistakes all the time.

I hardly ever ever see these kinds of machines except at the hospital and hotels, so I've very seldom used them, so I wouldn't really know. All I know is that they're very overpriced. Like five dollars for a handful of potato chips when you can buy a big bag for less than that at a grocery store.