working alongside people in group work

I don't like 'teamwork' for that very reason.  It's not that I always feel that I have a better way of doing things than anyone else.  But I just prefer to work alone.  I'm also not very good at pointing out where others' thinking or planning might not be such a good idea, or could be improved upon.  In my current job, we have to work together as a team for handover of information, coordinating activities, managing cleaning and cooking duties, etc.  It invariably, though, leads to some people either being sloppy or not doing the job properly at all.  We have team meetings where this kind of thing can be brought up.  I've made suggestions in the past at these meetings: how we could do the recycling better, how we should all be doing the paperwork properly, how we should be taking our rubbish out of the vehicles when we've used them, how we need to order more PPE.  These all make the service more efficient and professional-seeming.  Also, some of the things- like paperwork and cleaning - are mandatory requirements.  All I seem to get, though, is resentment from other members of the team.

Yes Tom - This is exactly why I hate teams.

I mentioned before about being the only staff member who hasn't signed the facility's general Infection Control Risk Assessment.  I refuse to, because it gives both an inadequate and - most seriously - a false account of conditions at the place.  It says that 'nothing needs to be done to improve conditions'.  Oh, really?  The cleaning isn't done properly.  The kitchen is often in a disgusting state: people never cover and date food when it goes in the fridge, never clean out the microwave, rarely check and record food temperatures.  The kitchen hand-wash basin only has a cold water tap!  We're always running out of PPE, and some staff never use it anyway.  Soiled laundry is often left lying around.  The toilets are often left dirty for lack of time to clean them.  Service users aren't encouraged to do hand-washing.  The whole place is a disaster waiting to happen.

But everyone else has signed the Risk Assessment.  Some without even taking the trouble to read it!

That's completely wrong.  You never use a finger to test temperature.  You use a food probe or a thermometer.  Likewise, you never blow on food to cool it down. 

You're right.  It's not only disgusting, it's unhygienic - a health risk, especially for people who most probably have lower immunity to infections.  I've witnessed similar, though.  People not washing their hands before handling food.  People picking their noses whilst preparing food!  I kid you not.

The problem is, if this kind of laxity is allowed to go unchallenged, then it becomes accepted practiced.  Institutionalised, in other words.

I was in a very similar situation working in groups in a support work environment.

What I learnt as a beginner was that to be part of the group I had to do as the group does without questioning the group norms or their way of doing things.

Unfortunately I didn't fit in because I took certain things too literally, as Autistics do.

When I read written instructions stating that certain things must be done I took it seriously.  Other group members thought I was strange or nuts.  The group selectively followed some written policies and totally ignored others.  I couldn't work out which policies and procedures to follow and which to ignore.

I ended up doing questionable things because that was the way everyone else was doing it and I didn't have a better way.

An example is cooling hot drinks.  Some of our clients had learning disabilities and when giving them hot tea or coffee, they would drink the whole cup down without hesitation.  So we had to cool the drink otherwise they would scould themselves or choke.

The accepted way of cooling was, adding cold tap water and then sticking a finger into the drink to check if it was cool enough to drink.  If not, more cold tap water and finger check again. My reaction was, DISGUSTING, and people have to drink coffee after someone had stuck their finger in it.  And cold tap water!!!

Which is what I'm doing.  In some ways, the bullying was just the extra shove I needed.  And it gave me the perfect excuse not to be there at all.

Which is what I'm doing.  In some ways, the bullying was just the extra shove I needed.  And it gave me the perfect excuse not to be there at all.