Working in retail but wired to not be social

[brookegaf]

Does anyone else here work in a profession such as in retail or customer service?

It's an interesting experience for someone who has asbergers and I'm wondering if anyone else experiences the same things.

Working in customer service can be fun when I have the energy to role play and small talk. I always try out new things to test how people react.. Recently I found out that if you crinkle your eyes when you smile people are more likely to smile back.. Anyway, it's taken 4 years of (part time) practice to even experience these fake bursts of being social and getting good feedback.

Although working in retail can be hard when you have no energy left and can't take anymore stimuli. I also feel guilty when I can see my co workers trying to connect with me on a more personal level but failing to do so.

I find that my attention to detail and being able to see things most can't is often rewarded in this industry as well.

Even though retail is just a casual thing while I'm studying I'm still finding these things interesting as being social is rewarded and encouraged in that world.

Has anyone else noticed anything interesting about the retail industry as either a consumer or a worker?

 

[OkRad]

I admire you. I could not do it. I would shut down 100 times a day! I already do.

 

[Mr Allen]

I work in retail, have done for years, OK it's Charity Shops but a Shop is a Shop, it has customers, which I serve.

I'm always sociable to the customers, say hi, please and thank you when they're buying and paying for stuff etc.

 

[Suzanne]

No, because I could not handle all the strangers and other interactions.

I have actually been offered work in some form of retail environment, due to smiling and being told that I would certainly bring customers to the place, but I never took the offer up.

Oh I did once have a job in retail, for this huge Japanense firm and HATED it.

I also did professional ironing and that was in front of everyone; I managed it, but much rather work on my own.

I don't fake smiling as such; but do recognise a smile is tons better than a sour face and so, only if I feel uncomfortable, does my smile remain eye smile, because if it gets to the point of it feeling plasted on my face, that is the time to escape FAST.

 

[WereBear]

I am good at handling visitors in the lobby; so good that I made more visitors come to the lobby and this contributed to bringing my Asperger's to light!

I'm working with a therapist who gives me strategies to keep such contact from stressing me out; I don't realize I'm "overclocking my processor" to do this, so I can easily see how burnout happens.

I think it is all about a person's skills and tolerances.

 

[xudo]

Recently I found out that if you crinkle your eyes when you smile people are more likely to smile back..

Maybe this is why people always tell me to smile in like photos and stuff, when to me, I *am* smiling.

No, because I could not handle all the strangers and other interactions.

Me neither.

 

[Alcyon]

In my twenties, I worked for six or seven years in various grocery stores in the produce department. I managed to get by quite well because, as I now understand in retrospect, more than half the day was spent behind the scenes receiving orders, taking care of stock, preparing the product, etc. So there was lots of down-time built into the day.

 

[Kari Suttle]

Does anyone else here work in a profession such as in retail or customer service?

It's an interesting experience for someone who has asbergers and I'm wondering if anyone else experiences the same things.

Working in customer service can be fun when I have the energy to role play and small talk. I always try out new things to test how people react.. Recently I found out that if you crinkle your eyes when you smile people are more likely to smile back.. Anyway, it's taken 4 years of (part time) practice to even experience these fake bursts of being social and getting good feedback.

Although working in retail can be hard when you have no energy left and can't take anymore stimuli. I also feel guilty when I can see my co workers trying to connect with me on a more personal level but failing to do so.

I find that my attention to detail and being able to see things most can't is often rewarded in this industry as well.

Even though retail is just a casual thing while I'm studying I'm still finding these things interesting as being social is rewarded and encouraged in that world.

Has anyone else noticed anything interesting about the retail industry as either a consumer or a worker?

Yes, I work as a cashier at Walmart. I find that my good hearing and attention to detail make me an accurate cashier. Just yesterday I caught a mistake made by a supervisor on the register; I was standing behind her watching her work cause when she got done with her customer, I was going to take over for her and let her go back to supervising. Another potential good point is that I have most of the PLU codes memorized, save for exotic fruits that rarely come across my register.

I can fake it pretty well too when I'm in a good mood. Faking it actually puts me in an even better mood if I am already in a decent mood. I can even make small talk in that sort of a good mood, and read them with modest accuracy. The catch is though that I have to be in a good mood, cause if I get nervous or anxious or worried, it all goes down the drain very quickly. I practically have to do cognitive therapy on myself in order to learn how to ignore the bad customers without compromising improving my own quality of work.

 

[Full Steam]

I could cope with the people as long as it was not too busy I think, and not too loud.

Burnout would-be my main problem also, and I'm not sure I could accurately process sales.

I'm fine at mental arithmetic, but working out cash I seem to be better doing in private. I also can't fill out forms accurately for some reason.

 

[Katherine Rawstron]

I have worked in retail, but it's not my thing. I was fine if everything was straightforward, but would get bored! If it was extremely busy, all I could see was all these people waiting to be served, and try to get them through as fast as possible. If somebody was awkward, I got annoyed. I'd still be like that now, I should have grown out of that mentality by now, but haven't. In my defence, I do as I would be done by, and don't hold up queues myself if I can help it; if I can't, I apologise and get out of the way as fast as possible so the next person can be served. I suppose I've got better things to do than hang about in endless queues all day, never mind faff and fart and hold everybody else up, and I expect everybody else to feel the same way - select, pay, pack, go! Is that too much to ask?

 

[brookegaf]

Yes, I work as a cashier at Walmart. I find that my good hearing and attention to detail make me an accurate cashier. Just yesterday I caught a mistake made by a supervisor on the register; I was standing behind her watching her work cause when she got done with her customer, I was going to take over for her and let her go back to supervising. Another potential good point is that I have most of the PLU codes memorized, save for exotic fruits that rarely come across my register.

I can fake it pretty well too when I'm in a good mood. Faking it actually puts me in an even better mood if I am already in a decent mood. I can even make small talk in that sort of a good mood, and read them with modest accuracy. The catch is though that I have to be in a good mood, cause if I get nervous or anxious or worried, it all goes down the drain very quickly. I practically have to do cognitive therapy on myself in order to learn how to ignore the bad customers without compromising improving my own quality of work.

I'm the exact same!! If I'm in a bad mood or anxious I make the most simple mistakes, am super clumsy and can hardly speak in a volume where people can hear me. But when I'm in a good mood it's like I have this invincible customer service skills lol.. It's like the years of observing how to get good feedback all come rushing to me. These skills have only shown recently over the Christmas period but it's interesting that my brain can now do that.

 

[brookegaf]

Maybe this is why people always tell me to smile in like photos and stuff, when to me, I *am* smiling.



Me neither.

Yeah, there have actually been studies that show the difference between a genuine smile and a fake one is the expression lines near the eyes. It's interesting that people in the general population have picked this up.. perhaps withough even realising it.

 

[brookegaf]

In my twenties, I worked for six or seven years in various grocery stores in the produce department. I managed to get by quite well because, as I now understand in retrospect, more than half the day was spent behind the scenes receiving orders, taking care of stock, preparing the product, etc. So there was lots of down-time built into the day.

Yeah, I guess I build in down time during my overwhelming shifts as well. There are spots near the change rooms where I can be alone for a couple of seconds. I can also 'hide' behind a table of shirts and fold behind them if I need time out.

 

[umbrellabeach]

I'm a grocery bagger at Giant. The work itself is fine but socializing is indeed hard. I get bullied by customers if I don't meet their social expectations, like talking and smiling. One woman made a huge, loud deal over my responding "Barely surviving" when she asked how I was.
Fact is, despite that I work in customer service, I don't owe any customer a personal favor - including social interaction merely for their pleasure or comfort - if I don't feel like it. Especially if they're trying to take advantage of me. I am a person, not a robot belonging to the company. If a customer starts harassing me, I walk away.

I also get a lot of unsolicited harassment. People - especially older men - who have had NO previous interaction with me like to make comments about me as they walk by, or even stop me to say something. Some of them hit on me, and some just stare. I've made my own thread about this and last year I began to combat it, first by making changes to my appearance and more recently by paying attention to customers' behaviors and getting away from them if I sense they're going to harass me. I'm often right about it; harassers make themselves so obvious! I'm glad I'm a bagger and not a cashier, because cashiers can't walk away, whereas a bagger walking away is totally normal.