Working in a supermarket

I imagine checkouts are pretty difficult places for someone on the spectrum - you have to stay put in one place for hours at a time, there are people milling around, noisy kids, people talking (several conversations at once), tills ringing and beeping, lots of background noises and smells. Must leave you feeling pretty tense even before you have to interact with the customers.

Supermarkets are often mentioned as difficult environments for people on the spectrum. I find the smaller ones difficult, cramped aisles, too many people, but also some bigger supermarkets. But particularly I find queuing at the tills difficult (but the self service tills are even worse - flashing lights and sounds - I cannot cope).

What I do in any unfamiliar supermarket is sit somewhere and listen to all the sounds - people outside and coming through entrances, people round the tills, the hums of refrigerator cabinets and air conditioning. I work out what parts of the building are worse, and chose my route and tills on the basis of least stress.

Christmas is the worst time - tacky tinny Christmas music rings out and hurts the ears - why do they think it is fun?

So I'm not surprised you find it hard. However if it is a job you need to stick with, whenever possible make an assessment. Work out if there are any tills that are particularly bad for you and see if management will let you avoid these. Or work out how long you can take of a particular till until you start to feel stressed, so at least you know when it is starting to affect you.

Would the management allow you to wear ear defenders for short periods when the till isn't busy?  Would they allow you extra opportunities to go somewhere quiet to de-stress? Can colleagues look out for you and let you know if they see you beginning to get stressy?

I imagine checkouts are pretty difficult places for someone on the spectrum - you have to stay put in one place for hours at a time, there are people milling around, noisy kids, people talking (several conversations at once), tills ringing and beeping, lots of background noises and smells. Must leave you feeling pretty tense even before you have to interact with the customers.

Supermarkets are often mentioned as difficult environments for people on the spectrum. I find the smaller ones difficult, cramped aisles, too many people, but also some bigger supermarkets. But particularly I find queuing at the tills difficult (but the self service tills are even worse - flashing lights and sounds - I cannot cope).

What I do in any unfamiliar supermarket is sit somewhere and listen to all the sounds - people outside and coming through entrances, people round the tills, the hums of refrigerator cabinets and air conditioning. I work out what parts of the building are worse, and chose my route and tills on the basis of least stress.

Christmas is the worst time - tacky tinny Christmas music rings out and hurts the ears - why do they think it is fun?

So I'm not surprised you find it hard. However if it is a job you need to stick with, whenever possible make an assessment. Work out if there are any tills that are particularly bad for you and see if management will let you avoid these. Or work out how long you can take of a particular till until you start to feel stressed, so at least you know when it is starting to affect you.

Would the management allow you to wear ear defenders for short periods when the till isn't busy?  Would they allow you extra opportunities to go somewhere quiet to de-stress? Can colleagues look out for you and let you know if they see you beginning to get stressy?