Frequently fired, stuck in menial labor, etc.

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I'm curious...are there a lot of us who have been frequently fired from jobs? A lot who seem stuck in menial labor or in jobs that are sort of not in line with what someone "is supposed to be doing at our age"? A lot who have been written up or poorly evaluated for having poor social interactions with customers, co-workers, or bosses?

I'm 28 and have never been able to keep a job longer than a couple of years. I've worked in a lot of fields, but tend to get stuck in retail. I'm college-educated, detail-oriented (like so many of us), and have an intense desire to please people and "do a good job", but I constantly feel like a failure. I tend to get fired or quit under duress more often than I quit because a better opportunity came along. I am often mentioned in reviews of the store where I currently work, and about 2/3 of the reviews are positive, but the remaining 1/3 are negative...and usually for the same traits. Where two customers will say that I was informative, highly trained, and knowledgeable, the third will say that I give too much information or "lecture" people. I'm confused and sort of at my wit's end. I'm scared to look for another job, partly because the economy is terrible, and partly because I know that it's just going to continue unless I make a drastic life change (terrifying). Am I alone? Is it my fault? Or is it valid to say that I have these difficulties because I have Asperger's Syndrome (diagnosed)?

I actually told my current employer that I had AS, but I guess that I present as NT enough that people constantly forget. And customers don't care to delve deep enough to realize that there might be more to my over-informativeness than just being an obnoxious "know-it-all". I'm exhausted and stressed trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong so that I'm not so miserable and such a problematic employee. :/

I could have written alot of this above to describe me. I either get stuck in some job that requires me to interact socially with customers (where I often botch things)

Either that, I can get menial jobs where the work is way too boring and not intellectually stimulating for me. Too much time is taken from my special interests where I have to stand about doing something repetitive.

I also find another downside of such jobs is having to associate with boring and dull coworkers who have mundane NT interests......... most often my coworkers are not terribly intelligent, and conversing with them feels forced and bores me to tears. I'm sorry to say, but my handicap of AS has me buried in the deck, and I get stuck under-employed in jobs like trash-hauling that have mostly proletarian types who are intersted in things like monster-trucks.

This is why it often doesn't work out....... I can't throw my full enthusiasm into my job as my heart isn't in it since it doesn't mentally stimulate me enough. I wind up hating customers and my coworkers.

The jobs that require me to deliver a "social performace," I fail at for a myriad of reasons because I am so "weird" with AS........ I have no theory of mind and can't read peoples' desires or expectations.

wherever i toiled, nobody ever suspected i had any useful smarts. i was just a drone in the background, until i was forced to interact with another human, at which point it became clear that i was more than a bit off. but now and then they would be surprised to get a definitive answer from me, for a question they'd asked others and from which they had not found satisfactory answers. i think more than a few folk were perplexed by my sagacity coexisting with my social opacity, IOW they just couldn't figure out how i could be so smart yet so dumb. i hope that made sense.

It's almost an inverse relationship, with an "easy" job being harder on the dimensions that actually count.

Whereas a job like being a doctor who had patients, an accountant who has clients, an architect with clients, etc, you're appreciated, the job is actually easier on the dimensions that count.

My degree is psychololgy (bachelor's which has not exactly opened a ton of doors)

Yes, I can't even get a menial labor job anymore -- I was rejected from a position with FED EX as a seasonal driver helper due to poor driving record & bad credit -- they do a full background, credit check & driving history check.

I have had a string of temp jobs this year I have gotten fired from after the 2nd or 3rd day with no explanation whatsoever. These were in accounting or finance.

I have gotten fired from hundreds of jobs with most of them lasting just a few days. Although I get paid at a skilled labor rate I get assigned menial tasks.

I have a computer science degree but i struggle to get basic jobs because i seem dopey/stupid/uninteligent/antisocial in interviews.

Because of that I'm trying to start my own buisness and work for myself.

I'd suggest watching your co-workers more to see what you are required to do. Then be very careful if you do any more than necessary.

Often, a boss will say something, hoping suckers like us will do them, but not really require employees to actually do what she said! This is sets a really bad example--as it puts pressure on the other employees to do the same--with the obvious result. If you have someone setting a bad example--get rid of him!

How do you explain it at Interviews? I cannot even 'lie' that well anymore. It is almost embarrassing -- I have had a string of temp jobs this year that ended after 1-3 days usually for very vague reasons or no reason. I never heard back from that temp agency about another assignment ever again which is really limiting my options to get a job (any job).

i wonder what percentage of us have been or are homeless?

I have about 3.5 years of savings.. I would like to invest the money either in a business such as a vending or FedEx type route (more about this on another post) or additional education but I am convinced at this point I am completely unemployable both because I burnt too many bridges & because of a poor work history.

Since the union dispatches me to my carpentry jobs I get to bypass the interview process.

Interviews for the majority of jobs are taken way too seriously by employers. I think having too much choice makes them nitpick. HR needs to feel important too. Employment Agencies are the worst for this.

Yes but how do you get hired otherwise?? Interviews seem to be more of an interrogation or cross examination rather than a conversation about the position.. Many times I wanted to ask in the middle of the 'interview' -- is this an interview for a job with your company or some type of "Questioning"

Interviews for carpentry work are not required. Just put the carpenter to work and he will either make the cut or not.

I am actually looking to get into one of these trades -- more upon the lines of HVAC or Electrician. I just don't know what type of program would offer this.