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Charity shops with uncharitable managers

DeeEll

With regret, I no longer have a volunteering job, or any job at all. This is because recently, I was unfairly dismissed by two insensitive managers at two different establishments. I say unfairly, because on both occasions I was just behaving like I normally do as an autistic, and yet both these charity shops (Oxfam and Cancer Research UK) are used to having volunteers on the spectrum. I am a veteran volunteer, and when I started out doing this, I very rarely had this kind of ill treatment or prejudice. If i had a meltdown, or a.semblance of one, they would just ask 'are you ok?' rather than say 'behave yourself and stop acting like a child!' I am just being who I am - they are the ones with the problem.

For me, charity work is harder to find now than ever. With my wealth of experience, I was sure I would have a good chance of getting a new job at a new charity, but they dont seem to give a monkey about me any more. They only seem interested in neurotypical "normal" people, in the belief that they are more reliable and generally more ABLE.

I'm tired of this feeling of not having a purpose. Volunteering has given me a purpose and a chance to contribute to society, but now all I see are doors slamming in my face. I may never get out of this.

Parents

  • I left my volunteer position not too long ago because the manager kept asking me to do the same physically demanding job every day (she used my height and dexterity to her advantage), initially i did 4 hours a day, 5 days a week then went down to 2 days a week then eventually left because overtime i felt really anxious, mental breakdowns were more frequent because I was dealing with difficult people (both staff and customers).

    All staff claimed they weren't paid but later found out as I was given a job description about the job had I gone through the conventional channels, the manager and assistant-manager were paid and also the ones handling cash were also paid and splashing it out on McDonalds and M&S every once in a while and also had the nerve of asking me to walk all the way down to mcdonalds to get their food whilst not allowing me to get something for myself as I was working for free. At least someone there gave me a pointer to stick up for myself, dunno if that meant refusing to do what the manager tells me because i was volunteering my time there and hinted that they were taking advantage of me because i'm not the argumentative type.

    Since then I have applied to various work experience/volunteer placements such as Barnardo's, Mind, Scope, ND, and supermarkets. I think it's just a lottery now since even supermarkets aren't taking volunteers, and also as my specialism is in computers, asked if PC world has any technician vacancies but I think it's a long shot in times like these. Although retail isn't the ideal place of work for me it's better than nothing.

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  • I left my volunteer position not too long ago because the manager kept asking me to do the same physically demanding job every day (she used my height and dexterity to her advantage), initially i did 4 hours a day, 5 days a week then went down to 2 days a week then eventually left because overtime i felt really anxious, mental breakdowns were more frequent because I was dealing with difficult people (both staff and customers).

    All staff claimed they weren't paid but later found out as I was given a job description about the job had I gone through the conventional channels, the manager and assistant-manager were paid and also the ones handling cash were also paid and splashing it out on McDonalds and M&S every once in a while and also had the nerve of asking me to walk all the way down to mcdonalds to get their food whilst not allowing me to get something for myself as I was working for free. At least someone there gave me a pointer to stick up for myself, dunno if that meant refusing to do what the manager tells me because i was volunteering my time there and hinted that they were taking advantage of me because i'm not the argumentative type.

    Since then I have applied to various work experience/volunteer placements such as Barnardo's, Mind, Scope, ND, and supermarkets. I think it's just a lottery now since even supermarkets aren't taking volunteers, and also as my specialism is in computers, asked if PC world has any technician vacancies but I think it's a long shot in times like these. Although retail isn't the ideal place of work for me it's better than nothing.

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