Holding mental scripts in one's head

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Do Aspies have difficulty holding and recalling mental scripts they have in their heads?

In the world of work and the world of sales, many salespersons use mental scripts (canned lines) as part of their everyday work with customers.

Experiences?

I think the main reason we tend to talk to ourselves and rehearse conversations over and over that we may never actually have, is because we need a script to work off of in order to minimize the surprises we have to process during a conversation.

When I go off rambling about a special interest, all those facts and arguments don't just spring up out of nowhere - I've gone over this stuff in my head a million times before, arranging and rearranging information, so that it presents in a logical easy-to-grasp sequence.

When I was jockin' for a living, I never opened the mic without at least having scribbled some notes on what I was going to talk about. If it involved an actual comedy bit, I had it scripted word-for-word, so I wouldn't stumble or screw up the punch line - and still used the time during the songs to rehearse it, so it didn't sound like it was being read. It may have sounded off-the-cuff, but it never was. OTOH, I can't stand listening to someone who uses the same tired old bits over and over as crutches, because they're too mentally lazy to come up with new material. But that's a whole different rant.

That's the reason that I talk to myself. Having a script to work on, helps me to work through my problems. I'm my own personal counselor.

None whatsoever. I can even rehearse every combination of response that the other person might come up with, and try every combination of ways that the conversation might go.

It is no use though - something different always happens, and the rehearsed script always makes things worse, because I can't move with the real conversation, the unexpected, and the responses I did not think of. I think this relates to executive function.

Actually, I worked for several summers in a bicycle and triathlon store. (This started prior to diagnosis, and it was sort of a love-hate thing, because I loved working with a special interest, cycling, but I hated the fact that I had to deal with people.) Echolalia and scripting were some of my greatest assets, because I could learn a whole "spiel" about a particular bicycle or bike company and reel it off at customers. Questions about the bike's attributes? I had them all memorized. Curious as to why things are done a particular way in triathlon? Why a special type of wetsuit? The best way to start a brick workout? Scripted! While I may have been awkward in terms of connecting with the customer, I certainly was knowledgeable about the product, and about cycling and triathlon in general.
Basically, I've always scripted. I use a lot of "mitigated echolalia" (where I modify the script to be what I need it to be). And I find it extremely helpful in many social situations.

I use to try and re-read things over and over again until I could recite what I read word for word, and it never happened. So for me it is very difficult.