So far, amazingly, I think I have made a good impression on most people at work. What has helped is very unexpected: there is a manager there whom everyone already hates. Yes, he is over me - but, it is an advantage, now the NTs already have someone pegged as they person they dislike, as the bully, etc - and I think there is less chance they will peg me as the misfit now since they are already distracted/focused in that sense on this other guy. What is interesting about that guy is.....I suspect he may be an Aspie based on all of the complaints.
Anyway....the one issue I may be running into is not coming off as confident enough? I don't think I sound insecure, but if I remain quiet rather than offering the "Oh yeah, I can do that, sure, I could do that tomorrow!!" kind of attitude, I think it may leave people guessing as to what I do or don't understand. For example, I don't assert all that I know. But I do ask questions about what I might need to learn more about. When that is all they get, they may get the impression that I don't know anything, and all I have are questions. When my supervisor comes and asks "how's it going" I have made small talk, even about the job yes, but I think he's asking me that in order to get a feel for how well I am learning. I keep forgetting that NTs have underlying purposes for their conversations that can be discerned better based on their social role. So.....I need to watch out for that. And I need to ask less questions, if that's all I can do to control against the impression that I don't know what I"m doing (since I don't feel like asserting things all over the place). I don't even really have the questions - it's just they come asking me to share and then sit their expectantly, and I've got nothing. So I just generate questions. Gotta stop that.
Also, I learn differently from everyone else at work! They keep insisting I don't need to review/study anything outside of work, they didn't do that, they learned on the job. Well....I need to study/review to learn, I can't just rely on learning on the job - I need to read the details, the greater context, in a organized fashion. But they are always discouraging that - or at best, they say, we'll give you time to do that later. WELL....I need to do it now. Basically, they don't learn like I do, they don't understand that I need to do this to learn. So I'm going to ignore them and just do it my way, even if it's privately at home to keep them from feel suspicious, like I am different, or doing something unnecessary. Anyway, they don't give me time there.
Anyway....the one issue I may be running into is not coming off as confident enough? I don't think I sound insecure, but if I remain quiet rather than offering the "Oh yeah, I can do that, sure, I could do that tomorrow!!" kind of attitude, I think it may leave people guessing as to what I do or don't understand. For example, I don't assert all that I know. But I do ask questions about what I might need to learn more about. When that is all they get, they may get the impression that I don't know anything, and all I have are questions. When my supervisor comes and asks "how's it going" I have made small talk, even about the job yes, but I think he's asking me that in order to get a feel for how well I am learning. I keep forgetting that NTs have underlying purposes for their conversations that can be discerned better based on their social role. So.....I need to watch out for that. And I need to ask less questions, if that's all I can do to control against the impression that I don't know what I"m doing (since I don't feel like asserting things all over the place). I don't even really have the questions - it's just they come asking me to share and then sit their expectantly, and I've got nothing. So I just generate questions. Gotta stop that.
Also, I learn differently from everyone else at work! They keep insisting I don't need to review/study anything outside of work, they didn't do that, they learned on the job. Well....I need to study/review to learn, I can't just rely on learning on the job - I need to read the details, the greater context, in a organized fashion. But they are always discouraging that - or at best, they say, we'll give you time to do that later. WELL....I need to do it now. Basically, they don't learn like I do, they don't understand that I need to do this to learn. So I'm going to ignore them and just do it my way, even if it's privately at home to keep them from feel suspicious, like I am different, or doing something unnecessary. Anyway, they don't give me time there.
