Random Question, opinions sought (long)

[ce929wax]

Back when I worked (before I went on SSDI), I was fired twice from two jobs, and had one job where I was given the option to resign or get fired (I was moving anyway, long family story).  I have been diagnosed on the spectrum since I was an infant and all things considered, I believe that I was below average in the amount of times I have been fired compared to other people on the spectrum (I could be wrong).  Through out this time, I have had several other mental health concerns that have forced me on SSDI.

My question is whether, I am in fact below average for people on the spectrum to be fired, and how this might compare to some of my fellow boardmates, spectrum or otherwise.  I'm also curious as to which circumstances to which you guys were fired (if you are willing to share).  I will share mine.

The first time I was fired was in June of 2008, when I went off on a co worker.  This person was sometimes unpleasant to work with because she expected everyone else to accommodate her activities outside of work, and constantly made mistakes that I had to correct (there is more to it than this, but I am being deliberately vague so I don't run a fowl with the moderators).  I was the night manager/auditor at a hotel at the time and she wouldn't listen when I told her that she needed to make sure the ledger was correct before she left and I was the one who had to cover her when she wanted to go do extra-curricular activities outside of work.

On this day, the day manager ran one of our customers who was working construction in the area for three weeks worth of room rent (cards were supposed to be ran once a week) and everything was fine until she reauthorized the guys card for the next weeks stay, when his card declined.  What had happened was when the day manager ran the card for three weeks rent (~$1300) and then tried to reauthorize the card for the next weeks rent (~$450), that she had exceeded the daily limit of his card.  She then locks the guy out of his room.  When the gentleman returned about 8 p.m. after a long day of work in the hot Texas sun (this happened in June), he could not get into his room and came to the lobby to ask why.  I explained the circumstances to him (the day manager was my boss, so there wasn't much I could do), the guy proceeds to cuss me out.  I don't blame him, I would have been angry too.  Finally his dad calmed him down and said that they wanted to go outside and have a chat.  After that, the dad asked me how much it would be for one night, and I gave him the best discount I could and he asked me if I would take cash.  I wasn't supposed to, but I did.   

Coworker then starts chewing me out about not following policy and how I always ride her for not following policy and that she is going to call the day manager and the general manager (who was in Africa tending to his family business) and get me in trouble.  I had been putting up with this co worker for about a year, the general manager promising things and not delivering and being pushed around by day manager (whom I was senior to).  I can take the customer cussing me out or the coworker chewing me out, but not both.  Needless to say, I snapped and lost my temper.  I called her a bitch and told her exactly what I thought of her as an employee, a person, and what I thought of her outside of work activities.  I was screaming at her at the top of my lungs and I slammed a chair up and down a couple of times.   I was let go three days later and offered a letter of recommendation if I didn't file for unemployment, which i'll admit that I agreed to and then filed for unemployment anyway.

The second time was when I was hired to work at a gas station when I lived in Knoxville.  One night I had left after closing the store (~2 a.m.) and I guess I didn't turn the key far enough in the lock and left the door unlocked (oops  ).  I come into work the next evening and was stopped by a woman I had never seen before who handed me a write up for not locking the door.  I asked her who she was and what authority she had to write me up and she informs me that she is the new assistant manager and that I can either sign the write up or go home.  I almost said to her that I wanted her to call the store manager because I wasn't sure I believed her, but thought better of it.  I did sign the write up, but wrote in the comments section that I wanted verification from store manager that this write up was legitimate.   After that the store manager would start issuing nit picky write ups for things like working to slow or for missing spots while mopping.  After three such write ups, I wrote him a note that said that I was working to best of my ability and as quickly as I could and told him that I was on the spectrum.  I also told him to either get off my ass or fire me.  I had the next two days off and when I returned he fired me.  I did get one week of unemployment for that one.

Long story short, on the third situation, I had been robbed while delivering pizza a year earlier and was suffering from un-diagnosed PTSD.  The PTSD was interfering  with my ability to do my job and was given the option to quit or be fired.  I was moving back to Michigan because my Mom and stepdad split up, so I quit.

[ErmineNotyours]

I've worked many jobs as a temp worker, but one in particular stands out.  I worked at the local distribution warehouse of a clothing importer.  They have the word "Union" in their name, but they're not a union shop.  They insist on playing a regularly rotating series of radio stations at us during the day, sometimes at top volume during the time of the year when there are more workers.  At that time we can't even hear each other speak, which you would think would be a deterrent for getting work done.  The worst station was KUBE, the local rap station, mostly because the songs they play are on a once-an-hour rotation, and they get stuck in my head.  I don't know exactly why this bothers me so much, except that I knew that the US government piped obnoxious music at General Noriaga to torture him, so there must be something to it.  I complained about this to my agency, and their only remedy was to move me to another temp job.  I already knew the ropes here, I didn't want to move someplace else when the worst problem seemed easy to fix, and would be a problem to other workers.  Later I sent a written complaint to the agency on grounds that the songs they played were inappropriate for work.  Yes, it's radio, and they don't use any actual curse words.  In a way that's even worse than just coming out and saying things.  It's like the annoying pre-teen who uses near-swear words, and when you call him on it he says, "But I didn't say nothin'," as if he thinks we're stupid.  They never responded to my complaint.

Things took a turn for the worse when for two afternoons in a row they accidentally played the shock-talk station, The Buzz.  Usually they avoided shock-talk.  The Point was on their rotation for a while, until they started a morning radio show.  A few minutes into that they changed the rotation to another station.  For those two last last afternoons, they were supposed to play classic rock KZOK, which is neutral to me.  They have a deep rotation with few repeated songs, but they still played "Money For Nothing" every day, so I would have to hear about "The little lorry with the earrings and the makeup" every single fucking time.  The second afternoon of The Buzz, I went into a meltdown, and they fired me.  I had fantasies of buying or making an FM radio signal blocker, but I never got the chance.

[ErmineNotyours]

A post script:  They said they let me go because they were running low on work to do, so I filed for unemployment.  The state held up the payments.  Somehow, they always know.  It was coming upon Thanksgiving, when I would have to beg my parents for money, but I checked the mail from the previous day before I left.  The claim went through and I had weeks of back-payments on one check.