Autistic and ADHD Without Knowing: The Workplace, Part 1
The story of how I got my first job
Previously, I’ve written articles about my primary school, high school and college years.
I’m now ready to talk about my workplace experiences. But given the number of anecdotes that I’ve accumulated over the years, I think it’s best if I split it up into a series of separate articles.
In this first part, I talk about the events surrounding my first job interview, which took place in 1986, before I left college — decades before I knew anything about autism and ADHD.
Grey background with text captions, showing the title of the article, ‘1986’ and ‘My first job interview’. There are two clippings of scanned letters: One is the job offer, with the wages £56/week and hours (40/week). The other is my acceptance letter, typed by my mum.
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| Image created by the author, using scans of old letters. |
The Application
My mum was a very organised person. When I was about halfway through my two-year college course, she saw a job advert for an electronics technician in our local newspaper, and filed it away.
Towards the end of my course, she brought out the advert, and typed a letter for me to send to the company, asking if they still had any vacancies.
My mum still used a manual typewriter, so my application letter might have looked somewhat unique.
She even thought to photocopy a page from an issue of Everyday Electronics magazine, where a small electronic circuit that I’d designed had been published.
To my surprise, I was offered an interview!
The Day of the Interview
I can’t remember what day of the week it was, but I have a feeling it might have been a Saturday morning.
Back then, I didn’t have a car, and I’m not certain how I got there. But I’m pretty sure my mum took me on the bus, and waited nearby, out of sight.
It might seem hard to believe, that someone who was nearly 18 years old had never travelled by bus on their own. But the idea of having to interact with the driver, and give the correct fare quickly, caused a lot of anxiety. So I preferred to walk instead.
Even though I’d been travelling to college by train on my own, I’d found that to be quite easy, because all I did was show my pass and get on the train. I suppose I’d lead a very sheltered life in some respects.
On the morning of the interview, I was very nervous, and probably went to the toilet about five times before leaving the house.
I got there very early, which is a habit I got from my mum. I have a clear memory of standing outside the building, waiting for someone to arrive.
Suddenly, a red Ford Sierra swept into the tiny car park, missing me by what seemed like a few inches!
The driver of the vehicle was like a cross between Tommy Cooper and Harry Fox, a character from the TV show Crazy Like a Fox. (Links to Wikipedia.)
The Interview
Back then, I had no idea how a proper job interview should be conducted, but I had a feeling that what I was experiencing wasn’t quite normal.
From the moment I first saw John, the boss, things seemed a bit chaotic. His desk was messy, and it seemed that he didn’t really have a vacancy. He mentioned how he’d been thinking about advertising again — so the timing of my letter couldn’t have been better.
He was interested in the magazine article I’d included with my application. Without it, I don’t think I’d have got a reply.
Back then, I was very quiet, and found it difficult to talk about myself. But when John asked me about my education, and my interest in electronics, it wasn’t too difficult for me to answer. Anything technical or factual seemed easier to discuss.
However, I did struggle when asked about my personal life. I think he even asked me if I had a girlfriend. There was an assumption that I went out drinking and socialising every night — but nothing could have been further from the truth. So I said as little as possible.
I remember John asking if I would be happy to travel and visit customers, and work on-site. I didn’t even have time to think about what that might entail, and simply said yes to everything.
Without realising, I was masking. I was simply smiling, nodding, and agreeing, without really processing much of what I was hearing.
John also asked me a few simple technical questions, and wanted to know if I would be able to make up cables, and construct circuits. I’d been doing those things for years at home, so it felt almost like I would get paid to do my hobby.
The Offer
Some time after the interview, I got a job offer. It was £56 per 40 hour week. Even back then, it was a pitifully low amount.
After I accepted the offer, my brother-in-law told me I could earn £130 per week for stacking shelves in a supermarket. I felt foolish to have accepted such a low wage, and tried to explain that I wanted to do electronics, because that’s what I was interested in.
First Car
My new workplace was in the next town. It took 20 minutes to get there by car, or 90 minutes by bus.
I’d passed my driving test about a month or two earlier, so my parents lent me the money to buy my first car.
I remember travelling about 10 miles by bus with my dad, to view an old Ford Escort. But when we arrived, we could see huge amounts of rust, long before we got anywhere near the car.
After that wasted trip, we got my brother-in-law to help. With a personality rather like a Top Gear presenter, and much more car knowledge than anyone else in the family, he seemed to take over the buying process.
He took us to look at a tiny Fiat 126, that was for sale at a small local garage. (Ironically, it was almost close enough to walk to.)
I was too nervous to do a test drive, so I sat in the passenger seat, and he drove the car. It wasn’t long before he decided it was suitable, so I ended up buying it.
Too Slow
Looking back, it was probably the worst car I could have purchased. My journey to work involved 70mph roads, and he had selected a car that could only achieve that speed when going downhill!
My car had a 0–60 time of about 33 seconds — it really was incredibly slow. It made it very stressful when accelerating up to the speed of other traffic. All my life, I’ve felt like I’m in other people’s way, especially in places like supermarkets. So to have a slow car, and feel like I was in people’s way on the roads, only added to the stress.
Despite my brother-in-law’s supposed knowledge about cars, he failed to notice that it needed a new clutch. The garage I bought it from refused to help, so I ended up with an expensive repair bill, days after buying the car.
* * * * *
Next time, I’ll describe some of my early workplace experiences.
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