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Being "difficult" at work?

OAP - Older Autistic Person

I'm generally pretty decent at my job wherever I work, but there is an aspect of work that always causes me issues.

I pick up on details that people often miss or choose to ignore, in particular when policies are not being followed, which in my job can put people at risk.

When I communicate this to management I am seen as being, "difficult," "abrupt," or "rude," but no-one can ever seem to tell me what I said that was actually rude, as opposed to being not what they wanted to hear, as it causes problems for them to have to solve.

This has been something I have faced for some while in a variety of workplaces.

I wish I could just ignore what I notice, but I literally feel compelled to identify issues once I see them, especially as they could endanger people.

  • i do this as well ( but it is part of my job ) 

    u have already recognised there is a problem with your timing in reporting things so u just need to change how you are reporting them

    i recommend that you put u findings into a report that u can then send to your line manager say once a week or month. If there is a quality assurance employee he also many interested in your findings

    you must not name anyone for blame as such

    look for consistent issues 

    for each issue explain why it is bad/costly  and how widespread it is  ---- this ups the importance of the issues found

    also if you have a solution put that just below each problem you have found. This shows initiative and could lead to a QA position if there isnt a person there already.

  • I’m not sure if this helps but, for me I am pretty blunt and straight to the point others like to engage in chit chat before getting down to the nitty gritty of things. Whenever I pick up on things I’m just told to ignore it but I try to implement a procedure in place so they can see the merit of it. 

    The problem is management don’t always understand and I have had difficulty in pointing out that rules haven’t been followed but I am a ‘junior’ and so that works against me. I have faced this issue in every workplace apart from my current place now, where they don’t enforce things such as a more thorough look into data protection etc. Although I have not done this yet there is something called access to work where you can get some funding for some 1 to 1 sessions where you can get them to talk with your employers and other things, I’m not sure, the extent of the support. 

    Best of Luck

  • see thats a good trait for some positions though, i worked with a self employed independant health and safety officer in my first work place, the people there didnt like him but youd be good for that job as it requires enforcing health and safety rules and regulations to ensure everything is done safely whether the people liked it or not there lol

  • Yeah the whole be seen to have done something whilst blatantly not doing anything is the scourge of the NT world.

    I’m lucky enough to make the rules so it’s easy to know what we do and why, I can even change the rules when we need to, sometimes I have to choose a less bad outcome.

    So if a rule isn’t been no followed what are people doing? Could the rules be changed to reflect what is happening, what are the benefits and risks of the old and new rules then finally who sets the rules needs to make a decision.

    You’re being no less difficult but you are providing a route to a resolution and being constructive. 

    I’d guess more and more of these problems occur for you and this pushes you out of your comfort zone further and longer risking a shutdown or a meltdown. Eventually you’ll move on where there is a clean sheet and the process starts again.

    It never gets easier you just end up pushing further and further up the structures. 

    I always have a few being “difficulty’s” going