Kids, Autism and Work: Confused

Confused

By dammit hearing aid - 10/07/2014 22:17 - United States - Wallingford

Today, I was interviewing a woman for a job. She told me that she may need days off because of her artistic son. I jokingly replied, "Does he color on the walls or something?" She then stared at me with a weird look on her face. Autistic, her son is autistic. FML

I agree, your life sucks 42 861

You deserved it 22 333

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Same thing different taste

By kggggg - 12/08/2010 11:00 - United States

Today, while at my friend's house, I noticed her brother had a bit of an accent. I laughingly said "Is it me or does your little brother have an accent?" She stared and replied with "No, he has autism." FML

I agree, your life sucks 16 788

You deserved it 47 393

By ChessNut - 27/11/2018 12:00

Today, a girl I'd been crushing on for a little while and I were talking about autism. Some of the last words she said were "I try to not find autistic people so fucking annoying, but I can't help it. But can you blame me?” I'm autistic. FML

I agree, your life sucks 3 348

You deserved it 366

Nice try, Patricia

By Anonymous - 04/08/2022 02:00

Today, I had to deal with a lady who claimed her son was autistic to try and skip the queue. Even her son was saying he’s not autistic, and she was screaming in his face that yes he was. I happen to be genuinely autistic. Security threw her out, and I was jealous that I didn’t get to do it. FML

I agree, your life sucks 1 173

You deserved it 134

WTF?

By Viscerion - 31/01/2023 00:30 - Australia - Albury

Today, my wife, in all seriousness, told me she believed I am autistic. With all due respect to autistic people out there, WTF? FML

I agree, your life sucks 628

You deserved it 246

By Anonymous - 25/08/2009 17:03 - United States

Today, I was at the park with my autistic son when I noticed a teenage girl imitating him by flapping her hands and walking on her toes. Fed up with children mocking my son, I went over and sternly lectured the girl's mother. Turns out, her daughter is autistic too and will be in my son's class. FML

I agree, your life sucks 44 968

You deserved it 23 189

By Badatlife - 23/06/2014 16:19 - Australia - Kellyville

Today, a guy at work pulled me aside to tell me that I probably shouldn't be working a job where I have to interact with customers, because of my autism. I don't have autism. FML

I agree, your life sucks 50 900

You deserved it 4 642

Put that in your pipe and smoke it

By Mimi - 29/11/2012 05:29 - United States

Today, I was shopping when I overheard a woman telling an employee that she was buying an iPad for her 5-year-old son. Annoyed, I turned around and ranted about how he should have more age appropriate toys. Then she explained that her son is autistic and will be using the iPad to communicate. FML

I agree, your life sucks 9 899

You deserved it 94 104

What's your damage?

By Anonymous - 01/10/2022 21:30

Today, my therapist mentioned we should look into the possibility of me being autistic. When telling my boyfriend what she'd said, he replied, “I don’t think you’re autistic, just damaged.” FML

I agree, your life sucks 1 041

You deserved it 153

Weird flex, but OK

By Anonymous - 10/11/2019 20:00

Today, I asked the girl who has a crush on me if she was autistic. She replied without hesitation, "I can be whatever you want me to be." FML

I agree, your life sucks 1 665

You deserved it 1 095

Narcissist Mom

By ItsYou - 22/11/2023 10:00

Today, my coworker was going on and on about how her son was nice and got good grades but that she needed to find him a therapist because he's too shy in class, and how she didn't want her friends to think badly of her. She's a counselor. I sat in silence for almost an hour, because all I could think was, "WTF? Poor kid." FML

I agree, your life sucks 455

You deserved it 102

Mynameislinh 24

Friday 11 July 2014 9:54

Well, they do sound alike... You could explain to her the misunderstanding and everything may be cleared up.

Vagitarian1 10

Friday 11 July 2014 9:54

You could see that one coming.

Comments

corporatecasual 3

Saturday 12 July 2014 1:22

Original poster here, didn't realize I wasn't logged in when I posted it. Anyway, yes I cleared the misunderstanding up. For those of you saying I should have used context, I had just finished a lengthy interview process and had told her that I was very confident she would get the job so I genuinely thought she was making a joke. I do also feel like she should have told me she needed days off before the very end of the interview, but obviously everybody makes mistakes.

Syssy_fml 2

Saturday 12 July 2014 3:14

Yeah, because everybody busts out the I'm gonna need days off for an ARTISTIC child during an interview. Wow, I can't stop laughing..NOT! And she isn't gonna tell you first thing about neesing days off b/c as you point out...she should have told you sooner...meaning you would have illegally dismissed her for a job she is obviously qualified for! Your job needs someone new doing the interviews, you obviously can't hear and are prejudicial.

Syssy_fml 2

Saturday 12 July 2014 3:23

*needing

corporatecasual 3

Saturday 12 July 2014 6:26

Umm... First of all, you're just straight up wrong about that. It would be inappropriate if I asked her about needing days off for her son, and she really shouldn't have specified that she would need days off because of her son. Denying her the job because she needed days off is well within my legal rights as an employer. It only becomes an issue if she decides to sue claiming I discriminated against her which she could only claim if I knew about her son in the first place. And since she volunteered the information, I'm completely without fault. And as far as being prejudiced, I misheard her. I wasn't making fun of her son in any way shape or form. I think as a human being I'm entitled to the occasional mistake. Kinda like you saying prejudicial when I assume you meant prejudiced. So why don't you pick up a dictionary, human resources handbook, and generally all the written material you can find(because you really need the practice) and then come on back.