autism and challenges w/ working customer service/cashier

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Caz72
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23 Apr 2023, 5:15 pm

im the opposite i have no issue with authoritising customers because i cant feel what theyee feeling and i am not a people pleaser

not that i go around upsetting people but i dont go around trying to be nice to people either
.yoy might say im stoic and hitler like

i know how to keep order on my bus


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Emmett
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23 Apr 2023, 9:49 pm

I don't have a problem telling people "no" either, but stores usually have a policy in some form of "the customer is always right." Which is totally wrong. So now you're dealing with two wrong entities that are ready to blame you for any meager loss of money. Not an optimal situation.



Elgee
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24 Apr 2023, 2:43 pm

My first job at 16 was the garden dept. at Sears. At 19 and 21 I was a cashier at two different Kmarts (for those of you wondering, Kmart was like Walmart).

I found cashiering incredibly boring and liked when there were no customers, as I was just standing there. Meanwhile the NT one lane over was like, "Oh I'm so bored, where are the customers??" I thought she was nuts. I liked just standing there daydreaming in my own world or people watching.

I was a very efficient, fast cashier, able to do the whole thing faster than most cashiers -- you know how some cashiers just DAWDLE and move like they're underwater? I was speedy.

I didn't do small talk, but responded on automatic pilot if a customer asked how my day was going. It costs nothing to just say "Good."

At one of the Kmarts the same people would come through. There were these ladies who were identical twins and always dressed the same. I'd think, "The twins" when I saw them in my lane. There was this friendly husky guy who would initiate small talk. I was fine with that, because he always had STUBBLE -- the good kind of stubble -- and this is a VERY STRONG visual sensory seek for me. I LOVE staring at a man's stubble, if it's the good kind.

So as we were chatting, I'd occasionally drop my eyes to look at his stubble. But I did that for only a moment, and back to eye contact, because I thought that if I maintained "stubble contact," he'd then think I was flirting with him or something.

I never had sensory issues with the sounds or lights, though hated that the same Muzak system looped over and over, and I'd hear the same songs repeatedly throughout the day. In summary, I was pretty much a Vulcan just going through the motions.



Emmett
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24 Apr 2023, 6:28 pm

Elgee wrote:
I found cashiering incredibly boring and liked when there were no customers, as I was just standing there. Meanwhile the NT one lane over was like, "Oh I'm so bored, where are the customers??" I thought she was nuts. I liked just standing there daydreaming in my own world or people watching.

"Oh god, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself king of infinite space if it weren't that I have, bad dreams."

Pretty much the same here. I used to tell the cashiers not to worry about boredom, that's when you become the most creative.



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24 Apr 2023, 8:58 pm

Caz72 wrote:
.yoy might say im stoic and hitler like

i know how to keep order on my bus


Image


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IsabellaLinton
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24 Apr 2023, 9:21 pm

I who shall not comment shall not comment. :skull:


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colliegrace
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24 Apr 2023, 9:24 pm

So today I got kinda overwhelmed (not in the meltdown sense), so I had a "yknow what, the mask is coming OFF" moment
And ended up stimming in very obvious and very weird ways as a way to self regulate. I suppose to the customers it probably just looked like I had a lot of energy.

See, the thing is right now we have "asset protection" peeking in our cameras due to one too many missing money incidents. So I'm wondering if someone from corporate was watching me being extremely weird in front of customers and if I might get in trouble for it.


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RAADs: 104 | ASQ: 30 | CAT-Q: 139 | Aspie Quiz: 116/200 (84% probability of being atypical)


colliegrace
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25 Apr 2023, 12:25 pm

Love when customers be yelling on their phones while I'm checking them out. It really overloads my sensories.


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ASD level 1 & ADHD-C (professional dx), dyscalcula (self dx), very severe RSD.
Currently in early stages of recovering from autistic burnout.

RAADs: 104 | ASQ: 30 | CAT-Q: 139 | Aspie Quiz: 116/200 (84% probability of being atypical)


naturalplastic
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25 Apr 2023, 1:07 pm

colliegrace wrote:
Another challenge for me:
Doing stuff that I know will upset customers.

I have learned to manage my lack of social skills by being overly polite and amiable. This means that I have a hell of a hard time telling people "no".

The latest thing at work regarding that is we can no longer let customers type in their EBT cards - the cashier has to do it, AND they have to have the actual physical card with them.
I knew this, but I've been doing it anyways because I hate the thought of disappointing a customer, or worse: them having no other form of payment.

My boss just texted me that I cost the store money because I did this.

:?

I won't do it again, but it's unpleasant.


You just gotta learn to shrug, and say "sorry. The rules are the rules". The person is angry at an institution (the store and or the government, and not at you personally) so dont take it personally.

Although in that situation ... I would probably NOT care how unhappy they are because I would consider them either a knave or a fool. If you really have an EDT card you're a fool to not bring it with you to prove it, and the person may not really have one (so theyre trying to rip you off). I wouldnt say anything of course. I would just stay stoic. Ask for the manager as a last resort.