Social gaffes that haunt you, this one’s a corker.
When I was 22 and 23, I had a fixed term contract job in HR for an organisation going through downsizing with a “voluntary redundancy” scheme. Many of my colleagues were at risk of redundancy, and some had been there many years and were sensitive about it.
On my last day, a bunch of us went to the pub at lunchtime, and I drank a couple of Shocker-bulls (Aftershock and Red Bull) and ate a few curly fries (my memory, hey).
In the afternoon, there was a little leaving presentation for me, and I did a little thank-you speech.
I said “I’ll miss you all, but don’t worry, I’ll come to all your leaving parties”
I had no idea I was autistic, and certainly didn’t want to upset anybody. There’s a disconnect between my intent and how I come across.
P.S. If I meant to upset them, I’d have written this in their leaving cards:
“I’m sure you’ll be missed. Just not by me”
But, contrary to popular belief, I don’t go around upsetting people on purpose.
Actually, I have buckets of empathy, and I don’t always know how to demonstrate this, don’t always say the right thing.
Autism is a communication disability, among other things.
Next time you think I’m lacking in empathy, please bear in mind, this happened 25 years ago and I still feel sad about inadvertently upsetting some colleagues.
#ActuallyAutistic
Ausome Charlie 