True face!!! The past couple days haven't been rough, but they have been interesting to say the least. I am always a happy person, but just like anyone else, I also have emotions and things that tick me off. There have been a few things the past couple days that could have ticked me off and somewhat did, but in the end I just laughed. Laughing was the best solution and I am so glad I found the laughter in me and found that it helped.
Friendships are a never ending battle for me. I swear I feel like a little kid where I am friends with someone one day and enemies the next. This is especially happens on the job with coworkers. Don't get me wrong I love my coworkers and I love my supervisors, but sometimes they tick me off and sometimes they are just plain disrespectful. The past month has had a few rough spells. I have had two girls on two different occasions say some pretty sarcastic and extremely rude things to me.
The first time this happened at work was about three weeks ago. I got really upset and went and tattled to my boss. I explained to my boss that I had Aspergers and that sometimes I am a bit more sensitive, but this person bothered me. I told them that I admit I don't get sarcasm all the time, but there are lines to draw. I have an idea of when someone is being sarcastic to be mean and when someone is just goofing off. It takes time to learn this with people, but I do.
Let me back track and tell you a little bit about my first job first. I started volunteering at an adult daycare when I was about fifteen years old. I eventually got hired by them and have worked there ever since. My mom had done business with them since she sells t-shirs and stuff. My mom had a strong connection with them and has a strong connection with them to this day. If there is a problem at work my mom hears about it. Its not because my boss is tattling, but because she wants to help me. She handles me very patiently, but also has high expectations for me. We work things out and I feel comfortable with her.
When I came into this new job, I came in all by myself to apply and be accepted. There was no mommy or daddy around. As I grew more comfortable with the job I felt more willing to talk about my parents and my family. I figured with a larger business like a creamery, you would have a boss that told you what to do and that was it, but its not. The bosses at the creamery treat us all on an equal level and expect acceptance of all. The bosses to an extent are our friends. When there is down time they kind of just hang out with us and we share funny stories. I'm sure they will never let me live down the story of the town next to me being poor for instance, but thats another story. They are our friends who give us guidance as we need it. They are there for us when we need them too.
As I got more comfortable with my bosses I started to talk about my family. The fact that I have a brother and I would talk about my parents. My bosses friended me on facebook which I was half tempted to do due to professionalism, but they are our friends not our enemies. As time went on I was able to share more information like the fact that I have autism. Sometimes my mom goes to the creamery to get cream cheese and will come home and tell me someone said hi. My coworkers aren't ashamed of there parents or aren't judgmental of my relationship with my parents. Its great.
After going through the whole conversation with my boss, she took care of business and had absolutely no tolerance for disrespect of others. Within fifteen minutes of talking to her my coworkers were working like I have never seen them work before. It was great, but I was still a little nervous. I worry about acceptance a lot. I finally got over that then something else happened.
On Saturday i had work again. Once again someone said something really disrespectful in a sarcastic way. I had been perseverating on something and it wasn't my disability. Fancy that!!! For some reason they weren't going to take any of it though so they finally snapped. Instead of acting like a baby I went to some of the people who I trust at work that were my peers and not my boss to tell them I was upset and I didn't like it. I told them girls were being bitchy to me again and then I told them what happened. I stepped off the floor for a minute to get a drink and ran into my supervisor. I told her that people were being bitchy again and she said she knew and she already heard. It just makes me smile that these bosses who I came to not expecting anything are so gracious and care about there staff. I may have had to take a couple breaths, but in the end I just had to laugh and tell my self that sucks for them that they don't know how to be happy and respect and be happy with the joy in others. Following this I had to give a huge belly laugh though.
Earlier on Saturday, I had broken my glasses by accident. I picked them up and they snapped. I got really upset because it made it harder to do my schoolwork that was due today. My parents told me some of the stress wasn't the pain from the glasses being messed up, but just knowing. That was true. We tried going to the eye doctor to get them fixed, but they were closed. Now what? My dad taped up my glasses and I decided to name my self dork face for the day. It just turned into a big joke. I had to laugh and not get so upset. Everything was going to be okay, I just needed to laugh. It did the trick, but later that night I had some visitors at work who decided to tape there glasses so they could be dorks too, which just cheered me up even more. We took our pictures, but I'm a bit too embarrassed to show that one. But we laughed it off and now my glasses are fixed.
Today things got even more interesting. Let me start of by saying that I live in a really small down with a huge abundance of doctors. This means that it just so happens that two of my neighbors just so happen to be two of my doctors. None of which was by choice, but all of which was pure referral and finding out afterwards. We aren't a real social neighborhood so we hear a name and think they might live here, but aren't sure. Anyway, I got done with my doctor's appointment in a really small office. I walked out the door at about lunch time to check out. My dr.'s office in the office is behind the check-in desk, so when I walked out I could see who was on the other side. As I walked out something was clicking in my head that it was my neighbor and that it just so happened to be my neighbors wife. I finally was close enough for her to say hi. I told her that I wasn't sure it was her and then I said oh wait, wow you look NICE today as if she never looks nice. She took a day for herself and prettied her hair up and were a really nice t-shirt. As I said this my doctor chuckled because he knows I have aspergers. Thank God both him and his wife know since they are my neighbors. I see his wife occasionally walking the dog in the neighborhood so she could have had all the reason for me to think she normally looks crappy!!!! She doesn't normally look crappy, but she looked nice today. As I walked out I just thought how awkward that was. Everyone knew what I was saying but once again we all laughed it off. It was one time that my intonation was off. So many times people talk about having monologue voices in autism, but I don't. this time I think I slipped though. We laughed and we are all fine, but man there have been some "funny" things lately!
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