And if you would like to share...

What type of job?

Why were you fired? Or, why did you think you were?

The first time I had a decent job as a Graphic Designer and had no thoughts of going to college. When i got fired - that was so long ago I don't remember why - I started thinking about going to college

The second time - too long ago to remember why I was fired - I was a cashier at a crummy, dirty, warehouse store. I had to balance my drawer at the end of my shift and had a hard time doing that. That was the hardest and it would take me forever.
My manager would say that working at that store was better than flipping burgers at Wendy's. I had my doubts about that! :)
bonnie

This was all just after high school. When I was young and somewaht foolish.

Too many times.

I was hired to set up the QS9000 system for a wood drying kiln and when I got there they had me processing the orders.

They had a computer program that was specially designed for that type of business but instead of taking the time to learn how to run it properly they wanted me to use the special program to do half the work and then type it all back into excell to print the invoice.

I couldnt see the logic to doing the work the compuyter was fully capable of doing and when I asked why we did it that way they did it I was told that I wasnt needed there if all I could do was ask questions about how and why they do things the way they do.

Many times and not because I couldn't do the job...except for once and that time it wasn't that I couldnt' do the job -- it's that it was so overwhelming. But most times it was because I got SOOO distracted, or impulse control was out of whack or because of ADD symptoms.... I got fired for making too many personal phone calls (some long distance charged to the company)....I got fired for making passes at my cute co-worker....I've been fired for lying on time sheets....The time sheets incidence was actually a nice job I somewhat enjoyed. I think I believed I didn't deserve such a nice job and so I sabotaged myself....but also I had not been on the proper meds yet....The reasons for the others....boredom, boredom boredom. My co-worker was more appealing than the boring job....So I have struggled with ADD/OCD on the job.....But I have been treated and been to school...and am job hunting now....and think I am on a path to better experiences....I believe I don't have to do these things anymore......Maybe it's meds plus enlightenment, plus God plus a little maturity.....:)

Never

Never been fired.

But I've quit over a dozen jobs... some of which I would give my left you know what to go back to... :( :( :(

Joan

I am surprised that you dont work with something to do with writting , as I find your style and ability to very clearly say your thoughts very easy to read.

Oh thanks Garry:) (and I find your ability to give compliments very endearing and sweet:).....but I will be writing evaluations of patients in their charts which doctors and other healthcare team members must read....).....and Garry....maybe some day along with being a dietitian, I will co-author a nutrition book???????

How does that sound?

I have never been fired however I have been put on Probation at almost every job. What happens is that they see how fast and focus I work when I'm hyperfocusing and then they see me at my normal work which, while I'm still fast, isn't as fast as I am when hyperfocusing. I have to explain to my various bosses that I should be judged not when I'm hyperfocusing for speed. Its a bonus when I can hyperfocus but it not a consistant state I'm at.
Also I have to let them know clearly when things get too distracting due to chatty people around me. And lastly I have to let them know of personal appointments (meetings at school, dentist, doctors) way ahead of time... not a half hour before I leave (I keep forgetting). I usually am put on Probation the first year at a place, but after a while they get used to me and I'm taken off.

Never been fired. Nearly all of my career changes have been because the company was acquired or closed up shop. :( I am loyal to a fault, and should probably have left most of these companies long before the doors closed.

I wonder...are ADDers more likely to be loyal employees...or is it perhaps that we don't like change?

Originally posted by BIG


I wonder...are ADDers more likely to be loyal employees...or is it perhaps that we don't like change?


Personally, I think it's a little of both....both forces at work here but I would tend to say it's more because we're loyal....loyal in that we're very nice, reliable, etc....and also we like to be needed...

and according to another thread here, some of us actually DO like change....(because we tend to get bored with the status quo)....but some of don't....

So I think the loyalty factor keeps us at a job along with the guilt for leaving our bosses who need us so much and who have become accustomed to having us around.

Another factor is the whole process of leaving and finding another job.....that's a lot of work.....

I'm extremely loyal to the companies I work with! Even when there was a big layoff and I was one of the unfortunate, I left a note saying I would come back anytime that they wanted me.
I still check their internet site and talk to friends from there.
And its been over a year. I'm just as loyal to my new company.
I have a *can do* attitude due to my loyalty.

Originally posted by Keppig
I'm extremely loyal to the companies I work with! Even when there was a big layoff and I was one of the unfortunate, I left a note saying I would come back anytime that they wanted me.
I still check their internet site and talk to friends from there.
And its been over a year. I'm just as loyal to my new company.
I have a *can do* attitude due to my loyalty.

Yes, me too. As I said, I'm loyal to a fault.

While I enjoy change in my responsibilities, I don't enjoy career change as much. (Not that my experience has actually reflected that...lol)

It's interesting that you should bring up the loyalty issue.

I am loyal above and beyond the call of common sense to a company... until it proves to me that it has betrayed me in some way... which unfortunately has happened more than once. At that point, that company is my mortal enemy.

Think we just have a very strong sense of who our allies/enemies are? A leftover hunter thing maybe?

Well, Ive never been fired. At all the jobs Ive had my manages and co workers all liked me. The bosses always thought I was a good worker....yet somehow I cant keep a job. Why you may ask? Because I always quit them.... for NO REASON at all. Things will be going great then one day I'll just be on my way to work and decide Id rather go to the beach. Having already used up all my sick days or just being to lazy to call in sick I just call say "I quit" and well thats that. Beach, park, zoo, canada, mexico, disneyland, all places that are much more interesting than work. I used to do the same with school. On finals day (we had to do projects and just turn them in on finals day then we were just gonna watch a movie and have pizza) anyways, my project was SO AWESOME!!! and I was on my way to class when I decided I wanted to go to taco bell, so me and my friend went to taco bell, then I somehow talked my friend into going to the pet store...anyways, we eventually showed up to class with bunny rabbits and hamsters lol. Luckily the teacher expected that out of me and my project was so good I got an A on my final even though it was a few minutes late. .. and I dont think he minded the pets we brought to class lol.

You ROCK, LilMiss. I would have given ANYTHING to see the expression on your teacher's face when you showed up with bunny rabbits and hamsters. :D :D :D

Originally posted by LiLMissADDitude
I used to do the same with school. On finals day (we had to do projects and just turn them in on finals day then we were just gonna watch a movie and have pizza) anyways, my project was SO AWESOME!!! and I was on my way to class when I decided I wanted to go to taco bell, so me and my friend went to taco bell, then I somehow talked my friend into going to the pet store...anyways, we eventually showed up to class with bunny rabbits and hamsters lol. Luckily the teacher expected that out of me and my project was so good I got an A on my final even though it was a few minutes late. .. and I dont think he minded the pets we brought to class lol.

I've done this a lot.....JUST when something would be finished and needed to he handed in-whatever it was....I'd find some way to sabotage at the last minute....(sort of like giving up at the nine-yard line on a football field).....like throwing away my entire efforts at something....YUCK....Painful painful painful.....:(

That was cool LilMiss that you did have credibility with your teachers....so such an entent that it was okay you were late....:)

A very interesting set of items in this thread. I resemble many of them if not al of them. the ones i haven't "fallen to" I've felt the heat from ever too clearly. that is, even if technically i've never had one or the other experience, Its just a technicallity.

I now "work for myself" which means i answer ot my clients/customers much more directly, which helps. It doesn't prevent all these things, but for me, it helps me keep "real" most of the time.

There are tasks that will kill me in a job if those are what i am forced to do. Dealing with cheaters, scammers, etc. drives me nuts. You might not beleive how many of those there are as both vendors and customers.

I really need a staff.

Otherwise, i am shortly "dead meat."

David

Im too far from St Louis to help sorry man

whats your business

I have never been fired before. But I would not be surprised if I got fired from my current job eventually. This Administrative job is not for me at all. Actually, I think I might be relieved if I got fired. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about keeping up appearances anymore. It can get exhausting . . .

:rolleyes:

Way to many to count!

Originally posted by Garry Lawton
I'm too far from St Louis to help sorry man

whats your business

Thanks. The staff I was referring to was Type A, completion oriented, non-ADHD staff.

When I have had that, it really worked well.

Who knows?

My business? Disabilities hardware and software. Gifted /LD training.

I never got fired but I did get on probation at a couple jobs. One I was on probation and they said it would be best that I take a demotion because they didn't think I would be able to make it but I fought back and improved and stayed at that postion doing well until I left on my choosing, in good standing. That was probably one of my working lows.

I did give a 3 day notice to Starbucks one time when I got a way better job. :)

Originally posted by Keppig
What happens is that they see how fast and focus I work when I'm hyperfocusing and then they see me at my normal work which, while I'm still fast, isn't as fast as I am when hyperfocusing.

I had the same problem at my last job. My supervisor was incensed that I was sometimes so fast, and sometimes not. She was personally offended when I seemed distracted or bored or forgetful. Yes, she had some issues of her own. :rolleyes: She had a tendency to badmouth coworkers, and she was highly offended when I told her I didn't like that. Soon I was overhearing her badmouthing me to others on a daily basis.

Add to this the fact that the primary function of the job was supposed to have been something challenging and fun ... and it turned into a lot of nitpicky clerical work. Need I say that I was not good at that? :D The interesting parts of the job were all removed, one by one. This was my only firing, but I was actually grateful to be able to leave that hellhole. It was not the place for me.

Krisp, May I ask what you did in your last job? thanks! :)

Hmm. You're not my ex-supervisor, are you? :D That's OK, it wouldn't matter at this point anyway...

I was working in a medical library. They lured me in by telling me I'd be doing a lot of medical reference, finding information and helping others find it as well. That's something I'm very good at. I underwent a lot of training on databases and print resources. That part was very interesting. I already had a good background in medical and biological sciences, so this was right up my alley. I'd done reference work in the past, and had written a lot of instructional guides on research. I figured this would be much the same.

What surprised me was that I was also expected to do a lot of clerical work that, in a library setting, is usually done by clerks or part-time students. And the number of clerical tasks kept increasing and increasing. I might have been able to cope better if their recordkeeping procedures hadn't been so redundant ... they'd have me keeping written records filed in two different places, plus a spreadsheet. It was a "team" environment, meaning that we had a different set of responsibilities every month. I'd just master some arduous, nitpicky procedure, and then go several months before I did it again. It was not a good system for me. Inherently uninteresting tasks ... poor training ....
little feedback .... random unexplained hostility from the boss .... not the thing for my poor brain.

Eventually, the interesting parts were all gone, and the job was sucking the life out of me. My only real regret is that I didn't quit sooner. It was clearly not the right place for me.

I was fired from my first job when i was about 15 yrs old working at a bowling alley. I can hardly call it a job I was so young. I was a great worker. The problem was I had to eat their greasy food everyday at lunch. One day I hopped on my bike and went out for lunch. When I came back the boss's son (spoiled brat ) was mad I ate somewhere else, and mad I went out to lunch without telling anyone. During lunch they would interrupt me to go retrieve a ball from the gutters etc. Anyhow, I talked back to him, and said it was my lunch and he couldnt tell me where to eat. Well, I got fired. LOL I learned something: not to talk back to employers even if right, unless ready to quit or be fired. I can hardly call this a firing from a job though - I was a kid.

The other time I was fired, was in colorado, when I refused to ride a horse in a dangerous manner. I was breaking race horse thoroughbred two yr olds, and teaching them how to gallop on the private training race track. My years riding horses taught me you never put your boot all the way into the stirrup, but this crackhead son of the ranch owner, insisted it was not safe for his horses unless I put my boot all the way in. Well, that was like asking to be killed, so I never followed that order. He was military Shell shocked vet, and so "following orders" was his hang up. His son even had to call him "yes, SIR" and he was only about 6 yrs old, poor kid. Well, I found myself getting fired at my first mistake. The mistake was I went out bull riding with his ranch forman, and succesfully stayed on the bull for 6 seconds, but when I fell I hurt and cracked my tail bone - PAINFUL. So for one day I was unable to ride. In fact, I was in bed, sore as hell. Well, he just fired me like nothing!

I still suspect it had something to do with protecting himself from either a lawsuit for his formen taking me out Bull riding, or because some people he knew accidentally said in front of me that he does cocaine. He acted like he needed to get me out of smallville - it was a small town and gossip spreads fast and he even bought my bus ticket and took me to the bus station. I guess that says a lot.

I think I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I was young. There wasn't anyone on the ranch that could ride the horses the way I did, even his forman would ask me how I controlled the horses. And I was green at the job in my opinion.

Other than that, not been fired. Close calls for being late, but most jobs got used to my late style and would just raise their eyebrows at me.

On the other hand, I don't feel that I was able to be promoted into managment at any of my jobs, which is why I work for myself, and started my own company.

Today I see that my lack of self confidence had much to do with not being promoted into management. I really never believed I could do that, lead people, tell people what is expected of them. Now I have to do that, all the time, running a business, so I guess I was wrong. If I went back into corporate America, I would probably do very well this time. But I'm not interested in that kind of work anymore.

J :)

Wow Healthwize.. what an adventurous life you lead :)

Krisp-Nope, I just plan nosey :D

I have had my current job though I have moved up in the ranks for the last 11 years. And it's mostly that I am loyal Big; this nursing home has it's problem's but for the most part it has alway's taken care of my needs. I did however get fired from Pizza Hut lol when I was 16 and going thru an "angry" stage in life...A supervisor touched me inappropriatly and when I asked him to move his hand and he didn't I removed it for him. *smiles* Some ppl need physical and visual references in learning acceptable social behaviour.;)

Man, I'm jealous of you guys who got fired from jobs that didn't matter as much. The first time it was a firm that I worked for where I not only brought them business, but when I was hired said, "you can ask me to do X or Y, but don't ask me to do Z b/c I've never been trained to do it." These are attorneys we're talking about. Great practitioners, terrible managers. You know what happened. "Go do Z!" Failed miserably at Z. Didn't stand up for myself and resist. Got it wrong. You know what happened.

THEN I talked my way into supporting someone in the music industry who has ADD in denial (very famous music producer; you woulndn't believe how often it happens). Everything was great b/c I understood the way he was and wasn't AS ADD (actually, he's ADHD - NEVER slept, this guy). Anyway, another woman who was after his job moved in, and not only was I expected to support both of them but she was super-organized and anal and they never communicated about whose work was supposed to be done when - I was just supposed to figure out how to "make it happen" (God, I hate that phrase). You can guess what happened.

Currently feeling like failure. Professional degree and NO idea what to do with it. Have been offered several networking contacts but since I've worked in so many different fields where I was just told to "jump in and go" but never trained to do anything, I feel like I have all these fancy credentials and no skills, so I'm not sure how the hell I'm supposed to support myself since I've been in the labor market for 20 years doing 20 entry level-jobs instead of having 20 years experience at one job. So any advice from the brilliant people here would be much appreciated (don't have the capital to go into business for myself yet).

Just twice and one was at a job that I had been at for 10 years and I was so lost and confused and I also had undiagnosed ADHD. And now that I look back on things, I see the ADHD and how it did effect my performance. The bad thing is, the management staff overlooked the intelligent and the fact that I could "catch a thief". I had been in the hotel business for 14 years.

lets just say that if I had 100 bucks for every time I got fired or quit I could pay cash for a new corvette!!
Well thats overstating it a bit, but I would estimate around 25 to 30 and I'm 49 soon to turn 50. like I said in another post, this has caused alot of grief for both my wife and me. I know she has to be at the end of her rope with me. My biggest problem is staying focused and not getting distracted.example: my last job was at wal mart 3rd shift stocking groceries. they use a method they call "zoning" or "zone as you go", which means as you put the product on the shelf,make sure all the labels are facing out and pull everything to the front..pretty simple..right? well, every time I would start I would put all the stuff on the shelves then go back and zone everything. I was told over and over again but its like I would get sidetracked and end up doing it my own way. the boss would get up in my face and ask me "did they show you how to zone as you go?"...yea..."well why ain't you doin it"? I didn't have an answer for him I was too ashamed to tell him the real reason.
well needless to say Iwas handed my walkin papers. and thats pretty much how its been my whole life. the only things I'm any good at are playing guitar, harmonica and doing voice imatations.
but I'm basically very shy so performing in front of alot of people would be hard. I would love to do voice overs for cartoons or commercials. but thats just a pipe dream I reckon. hollywood is chock full of nuts already. If anybody has any imput please let it fly

Lefty, there are lots of local markets for VoiceOver (or "VO" as I've heard it called in the industry). Do some Google searching; go to LearningAnnex.com and see if they've got a VO workshop in your area. I don't know what part of NC you're in but I do know that in and around the major cities there are thriving indie music scenes, and recording studios are usually attached to those, and some form of VO work can be attached to THOSE (especially since a lot of recording work can be done remotely now - you know the stories about how they want Ashanti for background vocals and she's in California and the studio is in New York, right? Well, thanks to web-enabled recording, they don't have to spend the money to fly her to New York anymore).

Good luck checking those out.

Thanks for the tip, MRB. I did a google search and it turned up all kinds of places. most of them require a fee, but some are pretty reasonable. I'm in the process of making a demo CD, so mabye my
dream will come true someday. Sure not having any luck with the 9 to 5 world. I'll keep y'all posted.

I can relate to the "never been fired but quit many jobs". I consider myself loyal and I dont like certain kinds of change that require me to learn things I am not interested in. Does anyone thrive off of the thrill of starting a new job? For me it all seems great at the beginning and then... well the feelings of over-stressed, stomach aches, migranes, taking on too much "The Whole Nine Yards" sets in and I run away - on to something new! Either my co-workers love me or they hate me. How many different career paths has everyone taken on and what were they?

Here are mine:
Digital Photography
Computer Consulting
House Keeping
Waitressing
Administrative
Nursing
Investigations
Marketing
Tellemarketing
Sales Assitant
Day care
Accounting/BookKeeping
Constuction Collections
Homemaker

I started college for Nursing, Communications, Investgations and Paralegal and I never completed them.

Does anyone else have these same problems and If so have you noticed any improvement after your ADD discovery?

Originally posted by akiss4u


Does anyone else have these same problems and If so have you noticed any improvement after your ADD discovery?

Oh man, yes! About a job a year at best over the last 15 years (i.e. my adult life).

Same career, just different places. Lots and lots and lots of different places!

Hoping learning to deal with it brings some stability for my poor wife's sanity.