Does anyone here have a job considered 'neurotypical'?

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Hi everyone,
I would like to know from the HFA and AS community who has jobs requiring a high degree of social interaction, cohesive and strategic thinking, or an ability to be persuasive.
What would be your coping mechanisms, learnings, and areas you excel at?

Does being a professor count? I have to teach students and give talks at conferences.

Does being a professor count? I have to teach students and give talks at conferences.
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at research universities, professors are hired to do research and part of the contract requires teaching.

especially in STEM subjects. especially in electrical engineering/computer science/math/physics, those professors tend not to appear too neurotypical.

I work in a restaurant and I actually enjoy it. I don't think I could be a full-blown server at a sit-down restaurant (mostly because I think I'd be too clumsy with those huge trays and might struggle with having to multitask with so many different tables at once), but the place I work has the "fast casual" setup where customers place their order at the counter, pay, get a number, find a seat, and then we deliver their food to their table. I work front of house so my primary duties are taking orders at the register and running food but of course there are other things to do too. We actually get quite busy during lunchtime but it's just enough to where I like it because I'm kept busy and on my toes and never get bored, but it's not so bad that I get overwhelmed or I have too many tasks to do at once. I have gotten better at the social part of the job. For the most part I just have to greet them last, ask them necessary questions about their order, and tell them to have a nice day. And I've developed a pretty good relationship with my managers and coworkers. I think they may think I'm a little quirky, but I fit in pretty well.

hannah:

at this point, no way could i handle a restaurant job.

when i was 18, worked flipping burgers. but i had minimal customer interaction.

nothing like handling multiple orders, carrying large heavy trays. dealing with angry customers.

In Zoo Tycoon, I put angry customers in the lion exhibit. Sadly, I can't do that in real life so dealing with angry customers that I can't tell to go away would be hard for me.

i work at a pizzeria doing mostly everything; delivering, making the pizzas (or anything else), cleaning the place and answering the phones, taking orders. i'd say it's one of the most "NT" jobs one can possibly have, and believe me, it takes its toll on the other guys too, not just me.

i don't know what is commonly expected to be more tiring for an autistic person, dealing with customers in the store who pick up orders, or deliveries, but i prefer deliveries far more. i find that those are much more "routine" than in store interactions, and predictability makes interactions far easier. (and i get tips).


the job is a good way to meet people, but not a very good way to make money. whatever. i imagine most of us would like the opposite.

hannah, i think its wonderful you take your job as well as you do. that's awesome. i used to work as a dishwasher, in the back of house, and i'd watch the front of house servers/employees deal with the customers and i would be feeling thankful to myself, that i didn't have to do that! i don't know how busy you guys get, but we used to get absolutely packed on weekends (beer garden, standing room only sometimes) and i think i would die in such a situation.

I've been top 3 salesperson in two jobs. I don't do it now because I'm shy

Yes, I'm a research analyst in the market research industry.

I have a role that's a mix of analyzing reams of data and then presenting said data to clients (who are usually researchers at media companies). It's very analytical, which I like, but I hate dealing with clients. Nothing about them personally--they're fine, but I'm not a natural with people, so I always feel like I'm walking on eggshells with them. Plus, analyzing the data is way more interesting.

I'm able to limit my client exposure pretty significantly, though, and in that respect, it's actually a pretty good fit if you're the sort of ASDer with strong verbal skills who finds things like writing research papers or distilling the "big picture" out of lots of extraneous details easy (and fun).

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what happened that caused you to become shy?

for me i feel like i got more outgoing until age 12. then my precious lil "parents" made me take the SAT in seventh grade. classmates physically assaulted and teased me. social rejection. puberty. gross. then more withdrawn til 18. college. then after going through homophobia got rapidly more withdrawn. and there i stay.

if someone rapes me or something like that, that could rapidly, permanently and signficantly change my demeanor. personality. persona. for the worse.

however, short of agoraphobia, find it hard to imagine becoming more "shy", introverted, or withdrawn.

on the other hand, quite frankly doubt that anything could cause me to become more outgoing. extroverted.

short of brain damage or neuroleptics. meds.