Autism meltdown in walmart?

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have you ever had a public meltdown in walmart or other grocery store, and what had hapened at that time and what made you upset?

Several. A lot. In many different places. At any age in my life.

I have meltdowns quite frequently, normally due to being overwhelmed by what's going on around me. Too much noise, too much ringing, talking, chiming, etc. I do a sort of lock down on my mind and just stop, and then if it gets really bad and I don't excuse myself from the area, I have a panic fit. I don't have screaming fits like I did as a kid, but I will get pretty weepy eyed and, as my wife has told me, I look horribly confused like I've forgotten where I am or what I'm doing. And she's kind of right about that.

I had a shutdown in Co-op awhile back. I was overloaded and my Dad was overloaded, and he asked to me fetch him some peanut butter so I went and got some and tried to hand it to him, but he didn't see me coming and got startled. I got so upset about startling him that I just sat down and couldn't move until my brother noticed and helped me.

Well, I work at Walmart, and it's hard sometimes because the noise and fluorescent lights are painful just on their own. Throw in a million things that need to get done in a hurry, and irate, impatient customers, and you have a recipe for overload. I've never had a full-blown yelling, screaming, self-harming meltdown at work, but I have gotten overloaded at times. When I feel pressured to do too much at once, I panic and start flapping, and it gets harder to talk. Sometimes I go to the back room where the customers can't see and bite my hands or smack myself, or kick a wall (they're concrete walls, so I don't have to worry about damaging them.) On several occasions, my team has seen me hit with sudden auditory sensory overload (usually when they drop something heavy, or drag a metal ladder or table across the ground unexpectedly), and lets me go to the back room to breathe and calm down for a few minutes.

As for being a customer and melting down in a public space, that's never happened to me, but I do get agitated, irritated, and stimmy when a place is too loud and too crowded. In those situations, I try to get whatever I need as fast as I can, and use my sensory blocking devices like my construction headphones, sunglasses, and sweater hood, and I stare at the floor or the items on the shelves so I don't have to make eye contact with anybody, because if I did, I would be socially obligated to smile at them, which seems like a tiny thing, but is actually quite draining for me.