My psychologist told me to work at McDonalds

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There is a tendency for folks on the spectrum to take things too literally.
It is likely that your doctor is not an expert on entry level jobs.

So, I would interpret his advice as being that he thinks you can handle an entry level job, even though McDonald's may not be the best choice for you.

You might want to put together a lists of your strengths and weaknesses and then see if you can find a job that appeals to your strengths and avoids your weaknesses.

Data entry can be a good job for someone who prides themselves on perfection and spends the extra time to get it right the first time. Or it may be terrible if you can't do that!

Landscaping jobs can be good for folks on the spectrum.

Last edited by BTDT on 17 Dec 2023, 6:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yes it's not for everyone, but at least it shows an employer you are practical and adaptable to take opportunities that are out there.

This is actually a good choice for those on the spectrum.

It’s worth a try. I did it for two plus years when I was in college to help pay my way.

No arguments there as long as one is able to cope with it long enough to move on. There are definitely other jobs that offer that for those that can't tolerate the work conditions.

I think that is probably correct that the psychologist doesn't necessarily mean to only consider machine's, that would be weird advice.

Customer service is another aspect of a McDonald's job that some autistic people might struggle with. Especially if they are tasked to fill in as a cashier, for example.

I knew a fellow who was ostracised by his doctor parents for leaving school and choosing to work in KFC. His siblings and extended family laughed at him as some type of failure.

He quietly and diligently rose in the ranks to management . I don't know if McDonalds do this? (I am sure they do) but KFC paid this fellow to a management course and he took full advantage of working for a large multinational.

Today he owns several KFC stores/franchises and is easily a millionaire. The same family who once labelled him a failure now put him on a pedestal. He himself now supports his own workers who want to be accountants, IT workers etc...to get training in-house + time off to finish school

Of course not everyone who works for KFC or McDonalds will end up like this, but working for them isn't a dead end by any stretch of the imagination. If you have drive you will succeed whatever the environment you find yourself in.

I wouldn't take it as someone suggesting you were that impaired or anything. It looks good on a resume/application to have work experience and mcdonalds can be an easy job to get that experience in. A lot of places won't hire someone with no recent work history, patchy work history or none at all. If you can handle the noise and smells, I'd say go for it. If that would be too much on you, I'd say avoid it.

"If you have drive you will succeed whatever the environment you find yourself in."

Plenty of factors influence how successful someone will be.

Effort ("drive" or motivation) is just one factor

Other factors:
Health
Luck
Personality
Social networking
Discrimination
Economy

Sometimes other factors end up as limiting reagents.

Not everyone defines and measures "success" the same way

Plenty of people work hard for a long time and struggle financially

Plenty of people goof off and earn $$$$$$

There's nothing wrong with starting at an entry-level job, but I wouldn't recommend fast food for most autistic people. Noise, smells, bright lights, dealing with lots of customers, fast pace of work--all these would make me quit or get fired very fast.

Working at a calmer retail place or cafe might be better. Or eliminate customer interaction altogether doing inventory, warehouse, or data-entry work.

I worked there for years and never once got put on cash.

Cash requires them to actually care enough to train you for it, if you're obviously autistic they probably won't.

They keep trying to promote me at the grocery store that I work at. Right now I'm kind of stuck managing my department because there's nobody else available to do it. It annoys me to no end, but compared with the utter chaos of not having anybody handling ordering and the like, it's less of an issue. I just wish people would stop treating and thinking of me as the manager, because I purposefully did not apply.Thankfully wiht Christmas less than a week away, it should get a bit easier, but the whole business is really annoying.

I'd say that we definitely can rise through the ranks, but it depends on dysfunctional the company is. At work we have one piece of equipment that's involved with an increasing share of the work, and it's in severely limited supply right now. Not worth being responsible for those messes.

I never had a job for more than 3 weeks, except my last job, which was in the office, and I ended telling the lady behind me she was really ugly and I wanted to vomit seeing her mouth, and lost that job ofcourse. When I worked in Mc Donald's years ago, the manager had a ret*d berate me (and pretty much everyone hated me ofc, except some old ladies), ofcourse I left after 10 minutes of that. I generally take full blown racism with a dim view, but the people who live in my city are beyond dog s**t.

My daughter worked at Burger King. She didn’t like it much but later she got a job as a waitress in a nursing home and another as a waitress at a restaurant. She is now working at her college in admissions and advancement. So a job really can be a stepping stone. My daughter is not on the spectrum - but since she was just diagnosed with MS she isn’t neurotypical either.

My son worked in food service in college as a dishwasher. He is on the spectrum. He liked the fact that it wasn’t so much customer facing. He stuck with it for a few years. He also worked at the supermarket as a cashier and later at the deli counter. He liked the deli counter work better. As a cashier he sometimes got to practice his spanish - his Spanish is good because he was in a Spanish immersion program from first grade to fifth (age 6 to 10). He got a second job at Amazon warehouse. He likes the Amazon work better because it is not customer facing at all and the work is very well defined. When he had to cut his hours back for school he chose Amazon over the supermarket. I have seen Amazon listed as a good place to work if you’re on the spectrum- but the pay isn’t great - better than some places but hard to live independently on. My son likes the work - pick up a box move it.
Sometimes he speaks in Spanish to his co-workers. He substituted for a friend as a dishwasher at a busy restaurant for a week once and hated it. He also tried out working in the kitchen at the restaurant where my daughter worked - also hated it, didn’t pursue the job.

My experience working a bad job was that I was more motivated to get a better job working a job I didn’t like than when I had no job. Weird but true. “No job” is just depressing and demotivating for me.

YMMV

Are you happy to maintain/continue with your current position (it sounds like you are happy managing things as they are). Yes taking on more responsibility means taking on more headaches. It also means your KPIs also broaden so you might be more under the microscope.

However, what are your aspirations? is it career? money? would you consider a sideways move so that you can work in a larger company?

Really happy for your daughter. The university/college sector is a safe inclusive environment with prospects. I am hoping my daughter can land a job there too.