Telesales and other call centre work

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Does anyone else work in this horrific field that most NTs say they couldn't do? LOL

I used to think that people on the spectrum could surely not manage this sort of thing, but since then I've read charity materials and seen documentaries that show that some people with more severe autism than I think I might have can be successful and enjoy working with the public. It depends on a lot of factors.

I've been pretty successful so far, thanks to a few things in no particular order:

Only working 20 hours at first, now just 16 hours a week. Any more and I think I would go mad, even though I mostly don't mind the job in these small doses. My NT or possibly AD/HD friend went from my sort of hours to full time there and then quit because she started to hate it with a passion.

Mimicking what other people say and how they say it. Before I did this I was rubbish, sounded stiff and terrified, people kept saying things like "I used to work in sales and I know what you girls go through", which I guess was out of sympathy because now I sound reasonably confident no one says that

Sounding very young, which I already knew, and possibly innocent or well-meaning - or something anyway - over the phone., people don't seem to be as rude to me as often or as severely as to most people there. Touch wood.

Being determined, even desperate to be successful while I'm there. Most part time employees there, especially the young ones like me, don't take it as seriously as I do, nor should they.

Having memorised the facts provided for us before my first day, while most people just let themselves learn it on the job.

A lot of luck, I think, after my first few weeks. I got a very unusual number of bookings which I now think was mostly down to chance, but my employer and supervisors think it means I'm talented as long as I'm relaxed and happy there, and they do know that whatever the cause of my inconsistency, I'm trying my best. I think I'm perfectly adequate at it overall, but that period of time was largely good luck.

A friendly, fairly laid back atmosphere. One of the supervisors was very good with me and reassured me when I walked out to cry last week. I had started to believe I was going to be sacked for not doing well enough, and she told me even if that happened, they'd actually just make me redundant and still give me a 'glowing' reference. This relieves me of enormous levels of pressure and despair I'd started to feel.

The routine is very repetitive and predictable. Probably not predictable enough for some people on the spectrum: I don't care about sitting in the same place every day for example and don't have any other highly specific routines I have to adhere to, it's a much more general sense of predictability I need, really just knowing the range of things I could be required to do, and knowing when I go to bed at night whether or not I'm going to go to work the next day and at what time (so no unreliable shift patterns or 'on call' work for me). The other reason this is good for me is that organisation, prioritising and planning is difficult for me due to AD/HD, and there is just enough of that involved to give me a little more variety of activity, but nothing like the level expected of a secretary for example.
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Where I struggle is when somebody I'm calling says something I haven't heard before, especially jokes. I also find it hard to judge whether somebody is annoyed or just joking at first sometimes, but that probably works in my favour. Sometimes I'm not sure what people mean but I just ask them. I'm not good at responding quickly enough or thinking on my feet when something someone has said is new or not heard very often, which means people end the conversation before I have a chance to convince them it's worth talking to me afterall. I tend to take too long thinking of the best response, and you need to have lightning-quick and confident responses to be among of the best there, because a lot of people will seize on any slightly extended pause in that situation.

I did a brief job in college for the alumni association trying to get alumni to donate money. I quit not too long after starting because I hated that job so much.

I suspect there's going to be a great deal of streaks, just like a baseball player hitting well for two weeks, or longer, and then slumping for two weeks, or longer. It's a statistical thing entirely unpredictable.

Now, it is a human trait to try and attribute meaning to these streaks. Almost an inherent human streak, which is why we get folklore about medical remedies, beliefs in a "god" of thunder, etc, etc, etc.

To stick with the baseball example (I'm a Yank, so I don't have any UK sports analagoies), ask 'Am I seeing well,' 'Am I swinging the bat well?' And if you can do that, good things will eventually happen. And you can communicate that to your supervisors if necessary. 'I am staying in rhythm.'

My relatively good experience was with a satellite TV provider, some billing at first, but rather quickly technical support. They called me, that is, as my diagnostics and ability to look up answers overcame my blunt nature. Towards the end I was even made on of the Supervisors, and again could just hit people with the old clue-by-four. Only reason that job ended was the fact that I decided to move with rest of my family to California. Boy, was that a mistake, but a story for another day.