Hyper-focus and rejection

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The strong attention focus that is typical of AS is responsible for much of the anger/rejection I get from people. I'm focused on one thing, but expected to be able to focus on several at the same time, which doesn't happen naturally for me. I can do my best if I know beforehand that I have to pay attention to several things at the same time, and even then it's hard to accomplish.

A typical example from my life: at the hospital where my mother is staying, there's a rule that if the nurse comes in you have to leave the room to let them do their work. I was talking to this patient in their bed, to give them some attention, so I didn't notice the nurse standing next to me. She got angry I hadn't gone out or even acknowledged her presence by moving aside.

Also, I get so much of the "you're not listening to me!" because I don't make eye contact.

I find that the hardest part of having a high-functioning autistic disorder is that so many of the traits/symptoms/behaviors are invariably interpreted selfishness, and there's no way in hell you can make them understand that it's NOT out of selfishness.

I do have this problem too, when to pick up the cue that you have to go or leave people by themselves...awful

One thing that led me to get an official diagnosis of Asperger's was my not lasting long with an internship because I was hyperfocused on what I was doing to fully interact with the office staff. In fact, the professor of that internship class made me drop it before the deadline because I did so badly with the intake interviews.

While I am working, I am fully focused on my work, because I have a long list of items to collect for the Interlibrary Loan. A person who spends a lot of time talking will likely not collect a lot of items. I need focus to know where everything is and to transition from the various categories of items (books on tape, DVDs, music CDs, fiction, non-fiction, etc.) However, I do talk to people and am thought of as friendly, even though I'm not a chatterbox.

Some folks seem take my lack of being aware of their presence, because I am otherwise occupied with something else, and my "lack of eye contact" quite personally.

I sometimes get hyper focused but I expect people to get my attention. I do the same to others. I shout at my boyfriend or start tapping him real hard to get his attention because he gets so hyper focused with his internet game.

I know this thread is about hp so I wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this?....
Sometimes I get so stressed out why I can't do this or that properly or uptight about what is going on in my life that I find myself starng into space. But the worst is I'm not aware that I'm staring at someone till it is too late and the other person or someone nearby doesn't understand the behavior.

It doesn't happen often, but when it does I usually embarass the crap out of myself and/or the others there seem upset and freaked out by it.

I was caught staring all the time at school, an dI didn't realise until thye pointed out , they felt I stared at them, but I was lost in thoughts

apparently i used to stare through people & didn't even know it, i was a daydreamer at school