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cropredyjeph
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10 Oct 2010, 8:23 pm

I am 55 year old Aspie and have had difficulty at work all my life. I always did well academically but when it came time to do the day to day grind I have had nothing but misery. Unlike some of the folks on this board I have almost always had a job, even though I always hated what I was doing and had very poor social interaction, in fact I have always avoided people on the job and kept to myself. I have been working at the same job for 15 years and even though the environment was very difficult - office job, cubicle, too many people, feel like I'm being kept in prison. But, for 13 years I had bosses who accepted my ways as a loner, appreciated my knowledge base and concentration. Always have had superior evaluations. I now have a supervisor (she's been there only 2 years) who is a micro manager, control freak, know it all, and a bully. I've been bullied all my life and still can't deal with it. Even though I'm a man just having her talk to me makes me shake and feel sick. When she badgers my my fight or flight takes over and I feel like I'm going to lost my temper and get myself fired. Basically, I feel like a broken man. I can't seem to leave it behind even in time off and I feel trapped to the point of being suicidal. My Dr. put me on Klonopin but even that isn't helping me. I'm a mess and need to get out but need the paycheck and benefits. Any words of help or wisdom would be appreciated.



Lupine
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10 Oct 2010, 10:04 pm

Sorry that your job situation has become miserable. I can relate...

Welcome to Wrong Planet. Hope you find some answers here.



Chronos
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11 Oct 2010, 3:03 am

Why don't you find someone who represents those with AS and similar disorders and call a meeting with this person, and your's boss's boss, so your boss's boss can speak to her about.

In my experience, those who try to micromanage others actually slow them down and make them less efficient.



Gruntre
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11 Oct 2010, 6:19 am

I've been in exactly the same position on a number of occasions.
The trick is to never get isolated so that it becomes you vs her. Workplaces will protect people like her almost by default (she sounds like a fairly typical sociopath) and it will always look bad if you have to speak to human resources AFTER she's compiled her greivance list (real and fabricated). The rusty hinge gathers the most oil :-)
Get to HR and tell them what you've told us. Get it ON PAPER. Make it formal. Do it first. They WILL value you as an asset (people like yourself exist everywhere, just like there are bullies everywhere) and it will work in your favour to be seen to have pursued appropriate lines of complaint rather than shrinking away into more and more of a corner. Doing this doesn't work in the mind of a bully- it becomes a red flag, and they will read you as arrogant and aloof (bullying is because of insecurity 99.5% of the time).
Trust me, flight or fight will not work; sociopaths know this, and will archive & use every little form of irregular behaviour against you till your company has to sack you even if you have a brain the size of a planet and are the only one who actually knows how anything works. I know this from very very bitter experience.
Once you've shown your mettle you'll find your supervisor will move onto softer targets. Oh and don't let your guard down. Just keep going back to Hr; keep seeing them, they WILL look after you, they exist as a direct and real response to bullying which has been around since Cain and Abel :-)
It also helps being Aspie; once it got out that I was HFA people's attitude to me changed to respect and a little bit of awe as Aspies are a pretty unique bunch of individuals. People naturally try to protect the vulnerable (trust me on this) but they don't know if you don't tell them. However if too much damage is done there will be nothing you'll be able to do to keep your employment. Hopefully this won't happen to you.
This advice works for me in Australia in a University environment- you'll need to adapt it to your circumstances clearly.
Hang in there!!