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Do you like or want to - work?

Pixiefox

I have recently retired from work. It was long awaited and I have not missed the job at all ( the people I worked with were nice, but the job itself had become a mixture of stressful and tedious)

I have never particularly enjoyed working. I have got some sense of satisfaction from doing a job well during certain periods of my working life, but in most jobs I had there were people - mostly managers - who I really did not enjoy spending my days with. I get bored quickly and so jobs became mundane in a short period of time, and if I put myself forward to do higher level tasks (that I was capable of) I was either refused the role or ended up doing the higher level stuff without getting the extra pay for it. And I've suffered burn out from time to time due to the stress of work making me exhausted.

I know that a lot of autistic people are unable to work but would like to, and that many people get a sense of self worth from working and a better lifestyle (due to having wages) But I feel that society may over value work in some ways, and that maybe it programmes us to think that not working is lazy or unproductive? However there are some wealthy people who do little to no work and nobody calls them lazy. I heard a saying somewhere that I like: "we're human beings, not human doings". Perhaps that's a good answer next time someone asks - "so, what do you do?"

I just wondered what everyone's views were about working?

If you currently work, would you give up working if you became financially independent?

If you do not work but would like to, or want a career change, what would your dream job be?

If you do not work and have no wish to, or are retired or cannot work due to health reasons, how do you structure your days?

Parents

  • After my redundancy after 17 years of constant prejudice, discrimination and bullying in 2019 (I was diagnosed with autism in 2021 - I’m 53 now) I was terrified of falling into another bullying situation as bullies always “network” with each other, given past experience of bullying as an older Irish gay man from a Catholic background who at one point ended up homeless for 6 months when I first came to the U.K. 23 years ago, it’s probably the very reason why I was very “awake” to what was really going on with Covid, even when all around me could not see it - my attitudes towards working and the workplace have considerably altered since my teens in the 80’s and yet I very clearly see the bullying mindsets that are at play, having lived in a socially deprived area for 23 years - it’s why I passionately believe that post-diagnosis assessments are vital in assessing level of autism and appropriate autism supports that are required going forward and must become a basic legal entitlement and requirement, especially for those of us diagnosed later in life - soon after my diagnosis, I was “pushed” into a job and it turned out to be a disaster as they had almost no knowlege of autism or disability issues, the management had no experience and there was no access to appropriate supports, as I had no idea of my support needs, which had I had a post-diagnosis assessment, I would have had a better idea of same - pushing people into unsuitable jobs, even with appropriate support, is bad for everyone, bad for jobcentres, bad for the employee, bad for the employer and their business - we see the same thing happening with employment agencies where people are sent there from jobcentres and where employers sometimes hire agency staff to fill gaps in their rosters, as the agency staff are not able to do the jobs as well as they should and this creates resentment among existing staff - I’d worked previously (not by choice) in supermarket retailing for 30 years in low-grade positions (not by choice) and especially since Covid, I’ve never seen things so bad - having no pensions when I reach retirement age, I already face a very bleak future, so how much worse is it going to be for the younger generations 

Reply

  • After my redundancy after 17 years of constant prejudice, discrimination and bullying in 2019 (I was diagnosed with autism in 2021 - I’m 53 now) I was terrified of falling into another bullying situation as bullies always “network” with each other, given past experience of bullying as an older Irish gay man from a Catholic background who at one point ended up homeless for 6 months when I first came to the U.K. 23 years ago, it’s probably the very reason why I was very “awake” to what was really going on with Covid, even when all around me could not see it - my attitudes towards working and the workplace have considerably altered since my teens in the 80’s and yet I very clearly see the bullying mindsets that are at play, having lived in a socially deprived area for 23 years - it’s why I passionately believe that post-diagnosis assessments are vital in assessing level of autism and appropriate autism supports that are required going forward and must become a basic legal entitlement and requirement, especially for those of us diagnosed later in life - soon after my diagnosis, I was “pushed” into a job and it turned out to be a disaster as they had almost no knowlege of autism or disability issues, the management had no experience and there was no access to appropriate supports, as I had no idea of my support needs, which had I had a post-diagnosis assessment, I would have had a better idea of same - pushing people into unsuitable jobs, even with appropriate support, is bad for everyone, bad for jobcentres, bad for the employee, bad for the employer and their business - we see the same thing happening with employment agencies where people are sent there from jobcentres and where employers sometimes hire agency staff to fill gaps in their rosters, as the agency staff are not able to do the jobs as well as they should and this creates resentment among existing staff - I’d worked previously (not by choice) in supermarket retailing for 30 years in low-grade positions (not by choice) and especially since Covid, I’ve never seen things so bad - having no pensions when I reach retirement age, I already face a very bleak future, so how much worse is it going to be for the younger generations 

Children
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