Always manage to look like an ass and offend people....

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crystalc1973
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30 Aug 2014, 5:46 pm

I really do like to make an effort to get along with everyone, even though I have the social skills of a cactus. Whether it's at a job or even online, but there is just something about my lovely Aspie "mind-blindness" that always manages to piss people off no matter how considerate I think I am being. I even managed to get blocked on Pinterest, not Facebook, Pinterest. I didn't even know that was a thing until today. I was always the kid who got picked on at school even when I didn't do anything to directly insult of offend my classmates, and to a lesser degree, I still feel like it continues today. I'm always the outsider and have very few friends, I just always seem to say or do the wrong thing. I have a wonderful husband, so I'm not lonely, but making friends is still a huge challenge for me, who ends up looking like a tool no matter how hard I try not to. Sometimes I feel like I should just give up and lock myself away like the Phantom of the Opera or something......



Waterfalls
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30 Aug 2014, 6:04 pm

Maybe you did something wrong. But sometimes there are people doing things and being yourself even though they are offended might be the right thing to do, might help someone, might be necessary.



progaspie
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30 Aug 2014, 6:43 pm

You are fortunate to be in a very loving relationship. I would say don't give up. Don't attach blame to the person who may have misinterpreted what you said or did. View each lost friendship as a missed opportunity to acquire new friends. Work on what you did wrong and what you need to correct to avoid being misinterpreted by others. Some people take advantage of you and aren't worthy of being friends anyway, while others are very understanding and make allowances for people who are a bit different.



beady
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30 Aug 2014, 6:58 pm

I share your pain. I am the same way.

I keep working to understand the conventions but I never quite seem to get it right. All I can say is, sometimes, when you get a little lucky, the people around you all of the sudden realize that you are kind and sometimes they are willing to be kind back to you. Be your usual self, keep trying to be the best person you can be. It seems to me that sometimes people are naturally unkind when they meet strangers. If someone is unkind to me I just kind of don't let it bother me but I don't back down either. I don't fight or anything but I do get my feelings across.



crystalc1973
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30 Aug 2014, 7:24 pm

Thanks for the positive encouragement and advice, everyone. I find that I do tend to react this way with every little instance which even hints that once again, I've blown it. I analyze it to pieces, when perhaps I have just stumbled upon a rude person, but then I always wonder if its my non-existent social skills at play once again. I always seem to say and do the wrong thing which causes me to be perceived as any of a variety of negative traits from opinionated to snobby to crude. My ex husband was not a nice man and always judged me because of my then undiagnosed Asperger's, and always made fun of my lack of social skills, I used to comment to him that I wished there was a course people could take to learn this stuff, as I just seem to commit one faux pas after another, and sometimes I still feel the same way. It has really helped me as an Aspie to discover why I am like this though, it was worse when I just thought I was "weird".



Waterfalls
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30 Aug 2014, 7:37 pm

I always look for what I've done wrong when someone is angry with me, sometimes I have missed something. Or failed to effectively communicate. But it's dangerous to assume someone being angry means you or they have screwed up. So I try to catch myself, ask someone else, give room for it to be a misunderstanding. Hardest of all is to walk away instead of trying to fix it. Sometimes you have to, though.

Glad you're feeling a bit stronger.