when someone with AS lacks common sense, is this typical?

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League_Girl
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18 Nov 2010, 12:49 am

Chronos wrote:
League_Girl wrote:
My office clerk was always telling me to use my common sense and to me that was offensive because I take things so literal and I am not psychic.

Since then I have hated that word and refrain from using it. I only use it when it's that obvious for everyone.


In my experience, most office type people assume that which is easy to them, common sense, and have a difficult time remembering that certain things they consider "common sense" they struggled with at first.

For example, I once worked in an office where the office manger insisted it was common sense to turn the photocopier off after using it. However being this was the only time I had encountered an office where the photocopier was turned off after use, how would it be common sense to me to do so?

Similarly, that which I thought was common sense apparently wasn't, as I was reprimanded for attempting to fix an office device that was broken and which I required the use of to complete my tasks.

I did not break it more, mind you. I was actually quite experienced and familiar with fixing said device and alerted the boss that it was broken when I realized I didn't have the means to fix it myself.



The thing is, he expected me to connect the dots and figure things out on my own. Same as knowing where things are at but I told him how can I know where things are at if they keep moving stuff around. Then I don't know where it is. Because I had been working there for a while, he expected me to all of a sudden be psychic and remember how to do things. Uh having me doing something once and then I don't do it again for another five months, I am not going to remember that because it was so long ago. I mean jeez, people must have better memories than me then to remember how to work something they only used once a few months ago or else I wouldn't have gotten that crap. Same as knowing where things are when they get moved to a new location because my work just couldn't leave things alone, they always had to do re arranging. I hate that because then I have to start all over and play hide and seek because my office clerk would get mad at me if I asked him where the item is. Then he gets mad at me when I play hide and seek because I didn't know where the items were put. Wow, people must not have that difficulty huh and they are just psychic because they magically know where the items were moved to. :roll:


Thank goodness I don't run into these type of people at every job. I can't imagine dealing with one of him at every new job I have and poof it helps with my AS diagnoses showing how it impairs me at work because I have a hard time reading between the lines and the fact I take things literal and have a hard time understanding and he just expected me to be like everyone else. He said he shouldn't have to spoonful every words to me because he doesn't have the time because he is busy and I had been working there a while so I should know. At least I didn't take that literal. :wink:

I will never forget how hard and frustrating it was to deal with him. But I say it was just him, not me or else I'd be facing that issue at every job because every person was ignorant I had to deal with. I would have also faced that same issue with other office clerks at work if it wasn't him. It was just a unfortunate I had an ignorant office clerk. I can't imagine running into more ignorant co workers at my future jobs making me more impaired. I think some aspies have bad luck with running into ignorant bosses so they struggle with holding down a job or keeping one because they end up quitting or getting fired.


Oh BTW, you always turn off the copier after you get done using it unless it was already turned on, I just leave it on because I figure it was on for a reason. But if I was informed to always turn it off, I would do it. I would just assume someone must have left it on by mistake and they forgot to turn it off. After all, do you leave other things on when you are through using them such as the TV, the stove, the vacuum, the lights, water? No, you turn them off when you are done using them. Some people do actually leave the TV on or the lights but it's wasting electricity. My brothers did that all the time and even guests at hotels do it. Some people do actually leave the stove on to heat up their kitchen. Some even use it as their heater. Some people also leave on their computers. I do that when I am using it off and on and when I leave, I turn it off. Same as when I shower but sometimes I leave it on. Same as if I am going to be gone not for long, lets say only 20 minutes. I mean why turn it off and then wait for it to start up again when I get back? It's the same with copier machines at work. Why turn it off and then turn it back on and then have to wait for it to warm up and waste time? That' why I wouldn't turn it off if it was already on. I would figure it was on for that reason. But if I was the first one to use it, I would have probably left it on thinking it was supposed to be left on because it's always on and no one has not turned it on yet.



jojobean
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18 Nov 2010, 1:33 am

As far as the origional question goes.... Aspies are still individuals and while some may excel in common sense, others may lack it, but most have a mixed bag.

Example: I had a major, I guess you can say, disconnect when it came to not touching things that were hot. Somehow, I just thought that I could grab a pan out of the oven really quick without pot holders...after many, and I mean many, burns, I learned that hot things can burn skin faster than I can transport it.

My father would ask me where is my common sense; my mom would just fret that her offspring would do something so stupid.

However when it comes to solving puzzles and fixing things, I have more common sense than most expect me to have.

by the way I am now recovering from a 2nd degree burn on my finger from using only one pot holder...and the lid of what I was trasporting to the stovetop, slid off and I pushed it with my bare hand out of instint.


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League_Girl
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18 Nov 2010, 1:46 am

jojobean wrote:
As far as the origional question goes.... Aspies are still individuals and while some may excel in common sense, others may lack it, but most have a mixed bag.

Example: I had a major, I guess you can say, disconnect when it came to not touching things that were hot. Somehow, I just thought that I could grab a pan out of the oven really quick without pot holders...after many, and I mean many, burns, I learned that hot things can burn skin faster than I can transport it.

My father would ask me where is my common sense; my mom would just fret that her offspring would do something so stupid.

However when it comes to solving puzzles and fixing things, I have more common sense than most expect me to have.

by the way I am now recovering from a 2nd degree burn on my finger from using only one pot holder...and the lid of what I was trasporting to the stovetop, slid off and I pushed it with my bare hand out of instint.



This reminds me when I first started high school, I go to Earth Science ans our teacher is talking and I notice this thing that looks like a scale. He told us what it was and it was something you use during chemistry or whatever and it hears up the water. He said it gets hot and sometimes it's plugged in and some students have put their hand on it thinking it was a scale and they wonder how much their hand weights. They put their hand on there and end up getting burned. I can say those kids lacked their common sense.



KissOfMarmaladeSky
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18 Nov 2010, 8:07 am

League_Girl wrote:
Chronos wrote:
League_Girl wrote:
Well here I am trying to make home made apple sauce. I put in the sugar and Cinnamon and even though the directions don't even say anything about stirring it, I stirred it. Now that is common sense. Even though it didn't mention to stir it after pouring those in, you figure out on your own you are to stir it before bringing it to a boil.


If you applied that "common sense" in certain chemistry experiments, you may have blown yourself up....or at least ruined your solution.



But chemistry isn't cooking.


Chemistry is akin to the old art of alchemy. Even the root word, chem, are similar.



Janissy
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18 Nov 2010, 8:40 am

League_Girl wrote:
Chronos wrote:
League_Girl wrote:
Well here I am trying to make home made apple sauce. I put in the sugar and Cinnamon and even though the directions don't even say anything about stirring it, I stirred it. Now that is common sense. Even though it didn't mention to stir it after pouring those in, you figure out on your own you are to stir it before bringing it to a boil.


If you applied that "common sense" in certain chemistry experiments, you may have blown yourself up....or at least ruined your solution.



But chemistry isn't cooking.


That's a very good point. Common sense is a good guide for how to go through the activities of daily life. But it is a terrible guide for the sciences. So much of common sense is about applying the knowledge we've gathered over time using our senses. You've tasted applesauce and you know that each spoonful tastes the same because the ingredients are evenly mixed...stirred. You used the information your sense of taste has given you about applesauce to figure out you need to stir. But so much of science is about not relying on your own sensory information and instead using information you can get from more refined measures. It's nearly the opposite of common sense thinking.