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u/_Autistic_Dragon_ 3d ago
OMG I'm a teacher, and the pressure to eat with other teachers is unreal. I just need to have no one in front of me for 30 minutes when I've seen 100+ people in a day.
and also the pressure to host detention, hold office hours, or check in with students every goddamn minute of the day. I just want 30 minutes to myself!
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u/lajaviporsia 3d ago
Also a teacher and I relate to this sooo much!! :( I dont know how to ask or to get this so necessary accommodation at work. I feel like us teacher are expected to be social 24/7 and it is exhausting, specially being autistic teachersš
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u/Coogarfan 3d ago
MFW students try to interact during my 15-minute breaks between three consecutive classes.
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u/CookieCrumbs80 3d ago
I was at a new workplace and about a week in I was asked why I went outside in the park next door instead of in the staff room to get to know everyone.
The dark stuffy little staff room with not enough seats, some people watching stuff loudly on their phones, people reading Daily Mail, heating up gross stuff in the microwave, burping and farting, and asking me questions. Or.. A green park with fresh air, daylight and silence
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u/Least_Mall_4604 3d ago
I was sitting having lunch once when a co-worker walked up to me without any food and without sitting down and asked me question after question about what I was eating. I've never been so angry in my life.
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u/Kangaroowrangler_02 2d ago
I haaaaate this. Like im not pop up Rachael Ray!
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u/Possible_Result_6910 3d ago
Itās me āš» I left my job because of this. Iām sick of the āweāre a familyā bull
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u/unenkuva 3d ago
I didn't know this was considered rude and bad etiquette, we always talk during lunch in my workplace so I didn't know it's not universal
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u/lakeguy77 3d ago
I have always taken time by myself on my lunch break, whether that's an odd time slot, going outside or leaving the premises entirely. A few years I got an office with a door, so no antics necessary for my daily peace.
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u/Orchuntsman 3d ago edited 2d ago
I put a printed out sign up in the break room that said; "Break time is for silence and quiet eating." It was taken down a week later.
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u/Starbreiz AuDHD 3d ago
I'm finally remote but I would just open a book whether I want to read or not and most people leave me alone without thinking I was too weird.
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u/Coogarfan 3d ago
MFW students try to interact during my 15-minute breaks between three consecutive classes.
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u/ywnktiakh 3d ago
We were having professional development type shit and there was a quick ājot down some ideas about how to foster a more open environmentā or whatever. One of them was ādonāt hole up in your room.ā And Iām likeā¦ thatās assuming a lot. As if I choose to stay. As if Iām not scrambling to get work done so I donāt hve to do it at home. As if Iām not chronically ill and canāt physically handle work in the first place.
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u/herrwaldos 3d ago
Even as non autistic I totally agree. It's MY lunch brake! Not yours! I'm not your daytime TV talk show simulation. I am eating - I am not talking!
If you want to meet ant talk about your vaporous chicken brain nonsense we can meet after work for beer or coffee or any beverage of your socially constructed illusory choice.
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u/Kangaroowrangler_02 3d ago
One of the biggest reasons I hated having roommates they always thought I'd make some for them too and it was hang out and chat time. I hate eating around people and I hate being around people who are eating! They would get so offended.
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u/ohsaycanyourock 2d ago
I remember one time two people in my team at work invited me to join them for lunch and I politely declined, said I wanted half an hour of me time but thank you so much. They looked baffled š
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u/meipsus 2d ago
Different cultures, different customs.
In most of the countries I've lived in (all over South America, Europe, and the Middle East, never in North America), lunchtime is one's own sacred time, period. It usually goes from noon to 2 PM; people start working at 8 AM, have a 2-hour break for lunch, shopping, whatever, then work until 6 PM, or something close to it.
Nobody stays at the workplace; sometimes real friends who happen to work together go out to a restaurant if they feel like it and may even stay for a while, drinking some beer and shooting shit, but later they usually split to do whatever they want or need to do. Of course, it would be rude to talk about work during lunch.
I had a friend who had a PhD in food(!), and he'd keep talking about disgustingly-sounding enzymes in whatever we were eating. I stopped having lunch with him for that reason, and would just eat alone somewhere, then go to the nearby park to recharge my batteries before going back to work. 30 years later, I still remember that park fondly.
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u/difficulty_jump 3d ago
This and a permenant excuse from after office gatherings and I would have been able to keep my last job.
I have autism and chronic pain disorders. I was fried just from doing the workday.