Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:11 Yeah. Why did the chicken cross the road? What, why your Lord? I hope no. I know our show will be a lot better than that joke, although that is hilarious. This folks, this is autism on shift. This is the laughing thorugh. Nobody thinks her jokes are funnier than she does
Speaker 1 00:00:45 Join us. This week. We're talking to Elise at least is a senior accountant and she helps veterinary hospitals. So we're excited to talk to Elise. Hi.
Speaker 2 00:00:56 Hi, welcome. Hi, thanks for being here. We're happy to have you. Thank you.
Speaker 1 00:01:03 Okay. Um, so let's talk about your job. What is it that you do? Can you kind of describe your job to us?
Speaker 3 00:01:10 Absolutely. So I'm basically the financial business partner for, um, several different veterinary specialty hospitals. So they're kind of all owned by this one company right now. Um, so I do, um, the accounting and financial planning for basically, um, six locations, two regions, and then one thing we call a lane. Um, so that means not only do I kind of do the accounting and make sure everything is correct for the month, but I really get to talk a lot with, um, the leadership of the hospitals, the hospital directors, about the day-to-day operations of the business. And I get to kind of prompt them with questions and how to start thinking about, um, you know, where am I making money? Where am I losing money? How can some of these things be shifted? Um, and we really start that process. You know, we start talking about an 18 months in advance. Um, it's a lot of planning, um, but I, I do really enjoy that part cause I, I like the, the numbers. There are logical for me. I also really enjoy learning about everything that's happening at these hospitals. I love animals, everybody that works with us loves animals. Um, so it's, it's, it's kind of, it's pretty great actually. Yeah,
Speaker 4 00:02:23 I like that. And it's awesome to be doing something you already love with, you know, like animals, something you also love, which is cool.
Speaker 3 00:02:32 What was the, what was
Speaker 4 00:02:33 The lane thing? Is that, what is that?
Speaker 3 00:02:36 Uh, that's sort of a financial term for like a different department.
Speaker 1 00:02:42 So like, uh, I'm trying to imagine like a, like a different row on a spreadsheet kind of thing.
Speaker 3 00:02:48 It's basically like a different spreadsheet. Like if I have one spreadsheet for each of the hospitals and then I have one spreadsheet for each of the regions and then kind of the bigger departments are owned by are also managed by people. So they have their own spreadsheets too. Gotcha. Awesome.
Speaker 1 00:03:07 How does the collaboration work when you do that? Like, do you have a tool that you use to like manage how everybody's communicating with the numbers?
Speaker 3 00:03:16 Well, it's mostly just me. I mean, so for my team, there's three of us that do the exact same thing for all the hospitals in the company. And then we have our boss and, um, then there is, is, uh, there's a financial planning and analysis team as well. They do more of, um, the financial planning, not at the hospital level location. Um, but as for the business as a whole, and then there's also sort of a national accounting team. We call them again, doesn't do the books for the hospital locations, but for the business as a whole. Um, so in terms of communicating for, with the financials, it's really for my locations, it's, it's me looking at them, um, and asking my hospital director a bunch of questions. Other than that, there isn't really a whole lot of people to ask. Um, in terms of the lanes, you know, my, my particular lane is the call center that they have for the, for the east coast. Um, again, it's one person who leads that the regions are three people. Um, I think that's probably, actually one of the things that I really enjoy about my job is that I don't interact day-to-day with a lot of people. Um, I don't interact with really anybody outside of the organization at all. I'm not client facing in any way, are you
Speaker 4 00:04:41 Not okay? Yeah. That was one of the questions I had. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:04:44 And, um, and I also, where I am, I genuinely like every single person that I work with day to day. Wait, you liked people. I thought you were an accountant. Actually, our accountant is nice. I like him.
Speaker 2 00:05:02 I didn't say she wasn't nice. I was
Speaker 4 00:05:05 Joking because I have the, you know, like this idea of like someone who likes numbers wouldn't necessarily like people, you know, but that's not, doesn't make it not in any,
Speaker 2 00:05:14 No, you're not wrong. You're not, yeah.
Speaker 3 00:05:16 Whenever I've kind of looked for like a new position or looked for something else since I became an accountant, the like recruiters and people I talked to were always like, are you really an accountant? Like you have a personality
Speaker 4 00:05:30 There, it's there, whatever that stereotypical kind of thing. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:05:37 You had said something about working 18 months in advance. Is that like calculating like year over year type of numbers or, or what, what does that actually mean?
Speaker 3 00:05:47 It's very similar. So when we look at, you know, after the month, when we do all our accounting and we're closing the month and all that stuff, we absolutely look at the year right now versus the prior year. When I talk about the 18 months in advance, we call that a rolling 18 month forecast. So, um, basically what that is, is we're kind of starting to plan for 18 months. Like every quarter we start a new quarter, 18 months out and we're, we're just starting like the beginnings of the planning. And we're basically talking about like, okay, for my hospitals, especially how many doctors are you hiring? Um, do you have, you know, new departments that you're starting, things like that kind of start to get like the bones of the business in. And, um, the reason it's useful is then especially for an organization, like the one I work for is the leadership teams who make the decisions about, you know, expansions and various upgrades. They can have more information ahead of time to say, okay, well, you know, a year from now, we're probably going to be doing X. So today we're going to do be
Speaker 1 00:06:58 Nice. Yeah. It's kind of nice. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:07:04 I was going to say you, you definitely, with a as little people that you work with, you really better know what you're doing then I suppose if you don't have vendor, many people to ask.
Speaker 3 00:07:14 Yes. I will say when I, when I was hired for this position, they, yeah. They had struggled to find someone who, um, had the skills necessary. Basically they do really need a strong person in this type of role. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:07:28 Is this something that you had done prior to this position
Speaker 2 00:07:32 Or did you go to school for it?
Speaker 3 00:07:35 I did go to school for it. So I'll give you like my little spiel. Um, so after high school, I, my, my mom was sick, so I didn't go to college. I stayed home and I got a job and then I wanted to get a job and I worked retail a little bit and I was totally done with retail, nothing against people that can do that. It wasn't for me. Um, and I was like, okay, what am I going to do? Right. What am I going to do for work? And I had volunteered a lot in high school, um, with different human service organizations. I had, um, done a little suicide prevention hotline. I did, um, tutoring with children, um, from domestic violence families, things like that. And so I was like, maybe I can, um, work in human services. So I did, and I ended up doing that for over 10 years.
Speaker 3 00:08:21 Um, and yeah, the last few years I was in a pretty high position at a organization around here. Um, and I did really love it. It was very fulfilling. And I also liked the people I worked with then, but I will say at a certain point, I wasn't really intellectually challenged anymore. Gotcha. And in order for me to move to the next level at that point, um, I would definitely not only need, um, a bachelor's, but a master's and a license as well, um, which I didn't want to do. So I kind of feel a little stuck. And then one day I was like, I don't know, whatever you want to call it fate. I'm not sure I believe in it, but it was coincidental. I got a cold call asking if I wanted to take a course on income taxes. Fine. I'll do that.
Speaker 3 00:09:10 I've always done my own taxes, find it interesting did that. I took the course and then I ended up working for that company for a few years and I liked it so much. And so I did taxes as well as my human service work for a few years. And then I was like, well, I, I think I like this. So I'm going to go to school for this. So I did an associates in business administration with a concentration in accounting and I enjoyed it. So from there, I moved over to Northeastern university and I did a double major in accounting management and finance in an 18 month accelerated program. Oh wow. Which they don't do anymore. I would not recommend they do still have that degree program, just not an 18 months. I really enjoyed that degree program because I did have the interest in both the accounting part and the, um, finance, which is basically the differences kind of like, are you reporting on the pastor?
Speaker 3 00:10:10 Are you reporting on the future numbers? Um, so I, I really feel like I learned a lot and, you know, going to university in your thirties, I think is probably a little bit different in that, you know, what at least kind of what you want to learn. Um, and what's going to be useful to you. And again, obviously knocking against people who do it and then quote unquote normal timeframe. Um, but I, this was really beneficial for me. So I really kind of got a chance to dig into it. Um, and while I was in doing that degree as well, I had kind of moved, I had left human services and move jobs to try and get a little like bookkeeping and, um, like light accounting experience. So that by the time I was ready to graduate, I could kind of just fully jump in. Um, so yeah, it's been over three years now and I started, I actually started doing accounting at a different human service agency. Um, and then I moved, so I guess it's been it's must have been four years now. Um, and then I moved to a manufacturing company. I worked, um, in gaming for a little while, and now I'm at the, the veterinary school right on. Awesome.
Speaker 4 00:11:24 So you said you didn't ha you don't have to see clients face to face. Are you doing everything from home right now or are you,
Speaker 2 00:11:32 Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 00:11:35 Currently everything from home. So it's interesting because I did start this job during the pandemic. Okay. So my coworkers have all worked together in the office full time and I have not. Yeah. Um, I've been,
Speaker 4 00:11:51 I've been in the office.
Speaker 3 00:11:53 Oh. Um, I honestly think that starting this job during the pandemic, like really enabled me to be successful in a way that I haven't when starting jobs in person. Yeah. Um, there's a level of anxiety that I have about my social, how I come off basically. Um, and that was less when I could just turn off my camera. Nice. A lot less. And, um, so I did, when I first started, I did a few days in the office and I've done a few days here and there. So I've met my coworkers and my boss. Um, but I will also say too, the interview process, um, was really refreshing. And I, it was really, um, I did a lot of interviews, a lot of zoom interviews during the pageant. And, um, she was, my boss right now was the first person who came out and said to me, like, I'm not looking at your green dot.
Speaker 3 00:12:57 I'm not watching Tim. See if you're on all day. I don't care. I just like, if you get your work done, I don't care when you work. No one, like, and that was so refreshing to hear. I was like, you know, some of, I feel like some of the places that I've been most successful is when I have flexibility, I did a few days in person. Um, and I knew that I already would probably like my boss based on where she had said about not watching my green dot. Um, it was nice to be able to like do a few days and then come home and work here and in quiet and really not worry about face to face interaction at all at all.
Speaker 4 00:13:42 Yeah. I can see that being very relaxing. I think
Speaker 1 00:13:44 Workplaces really need to move to a productivity model versus a time model. Absolutely. Like it doesn't matter that I'm there from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. It doesn't matter that I have to clock in a minute early, but I mean, all of that is just controlled shit. And I think it's ridiculous. Yeah. Work well
Speaker 4 00:14:04 With that anyway. I mean, it's, it's, it's, you have to be able to, you know, you're going to be the most productive at when it's right for you and you go forward and you give it your all, and then you, when you're not feeling you need to be able to walk away. And if it's a nine to five, you couldn't have less productivity than if I work best at 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM. And then, you know, later on after I've eaten or done whatever works well for me, you know, I like coffee and showers after both those things I'm going to do really good, then, you know, it's like,
Speaker 3 00:14:34 Yep, absolutely. And especially for my position in particular, like there most weeks, it is much more than 40 hours worth of work. So you have to be able to be flexible about when you're working. Right. Like I, one of my coworkers, um, you know, has kids in school that she has to pick up and drop off during the day. So she signs on early in the morning, get some work done and then goes and does that, um, my boss and my other coworker, they're really not morning people. So you'll see them on late at night. Right. And, you know, you'll see it at 10:00 AM that maybe they still haven't signed on and that's totally fine. And, and, um, yeah, which is kind of great. Like I used to, especially early on, I would like, you know, ping message my boss and be like, Hey, I'm stepping out for X, Y, Z.
Speaker 3 00:15:27 I gotta run to the pharmacy or, you know, and she's like, you don't have to tell me, she's like, I trust you. That's the other nice thing too. Is that like, she told me, like, you know, when you talk about working from home, especially like corporate, right. A lot of people are worried about that productivity. Are you really working or are you, are you hanging out watching YouTube or something like that, especially. Right. Cause they can't see you. Um, and I love that. My boss just said to me one time, she was like, I trust you, but I don't need to worry about whether you're working or not, because I trust you to get your work done and get it done. Well,
Speaker 1 00:16:05 That's the way it should be. You know, if you, okay. I mean, if you have trust and flexibility, like there's no end to what you can accomplish.
Speaker 4 00:16:17 Well, I think that trust along a lot of times, you know, as somebody who might not have that trust probably is not that great themselves. You know what I mean? If it, oh
Speaker 1 00:16:26 Yeah. It's like projection, right? They're like, oh, well, if I wasn't being watched, I wouldn't give them a hundred percent. And so I'm going to assume that you're going to, not that you're going to be the same way.
Speaker 4 00:16:35 I mean, yeah. I would think a lot of times, right? Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:16:39 I think insecurities in general. Yeah. I've seen it come from both types of people. I've seen it come from an extremely, extremely, extremely high performer micromanager. And then I've also seen it come from someone who yes. Maybe is upset that they're, that they're not taking advantage of what they're accusing you of.
Speaker 1 00:17:00 So is there anything that you dislike about your job or what you do?
Speaker 3 00:17:05 So I will say that it is pretty long hours, a lot of the time. Um, and it's one of those situations where ever since I've been there, um, you know, they've been promising things will get better and to their credit they have, um, and then they get worse again and then they get better. Um, and you know, it's a moving target. Um, but I will say, I think all the jobs that I've had since I switched to, you know, a career in kind of financials, um, have been pretty long hours. Um, and, and that's, you know, in one way I don't mind it because I do feel I'm, I'm pretty good at it. And one of the things that just makes me feel good in my life in general is feeling like I'm accomplishing things and, um, being successful and getting that good feedback from my colleagues at work.
Speaker 3 00:18:02 Um, but on the other hand, you know, my, my husband doesn't work those hours and he gets about three times, maybe almost four times as much time off as I do. And I would really like to be able to take a vacation with him, um, or take a vacation in general. I have not taken more than three days off in the last year. Um, it's a lot, it's a lot, there's a lot of days of the month that I just can't take off because of, um, strict deadlines. So that part I do dislike. Um, but I do think that there are places even in this industry, um, that you can get a better work-life balance. And, um, so I'm hopeful that either a, that will happen or B it'll get, it'll get better where I am. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:18:55 Yeah. That's hard. That's hard one, you said three days. I mean, that's like none, not even weekends, huh? Oh, no. I mean, I get weekends.
Speaker 2 00:19:02 Oh, okay. Was like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 3 00:19:05 Vacation days. I haven't. So I took, I took 'em three days for my birthday and then I, I, so I took three days twice as what I, what I mean, like, I just can't take more than that's basically the amount of days per month that we can take because we have, um, such a strict schedule. That is the tough part. It honestly, it's a constant conversation. Like even my boss is like, yeah, this, this needs to get better. What would it take to get better?
Speaker 1 00:19:31 Would you just more employees or more employees would certainly help
Speaker 3 00:19:36 That would certainly help. Um, we recently found out that comparatively to competitors and other companies in our industries, our accounting team is extremely, extremely lean. Um, so we are, we are talking about, and we actually, even since I've been hired, which was about a year ago, we have hired an additional person and restructured the team. Um, so more employees would help. Um, and also we, you know, continuing to make process improvements does help. Um, we have a person, um, and one of the, um, other financial teams who, um, taught himself how to code and it's been extremely useful for us because now a lot of this stuff that used to take us hours, you know, like opening and saving down reports, we can just macro. Um, I do. Yeah. So I do think that has been the most helpful thing, um, in terms of reducing the hours.
Speaker 1 00:20:28 Awesome. Especially when you have deadlines. Yeah. Yes. Excuse me.
Speaker 4 00:20:35 Especially when you only have three days for your vacation month,
Speaker 3 00:20:40 I will say that the deadline thing is probably something that I both like and dislike about my job too. Um, it's tough, you know, when you wake up on a day where you really do feel genuinely burned out and you know, that still by noon, you know, ABC has to happen. And by 2:00 PM, 1, 2, 3 has to happen. And by the end of the day, which is at any time before 8:00 AM the next day for us, really, because we're more flexible, but by the end of the day or tomorrow, you know, all this other stuff has to happen. And sometimes that is overwhelming. Um, on the other hand, it does keep me very focused and actually doing those things. And I generally don't get as behind as I did when I was in some other positions that aren't as deadline driven. Um, so when I can have a weekend, it's like, oh, I am behind on that one thing, but everything else it's like, I've actually done it.
Speaker 2 00:21:36 Nice.
Speaker 1 00:21:38 And that sense of accomplishment that comes with a deadline, I once worked 37 hours straight just to meet a deadline. Oh, I did it. And you slept for 37 hours. Sounds about right. Yes. Okay.
Speaker 4 00:21:59 Now having autism, um, because did you say, when did you find out that you had autism where you, you were already in the workplace? Right? I mean only last year,
Speaker 3 00:22:10 Only during the pandemic, did I actually realize and like pursue and, um, think about that. Um, my husband has been saying for a while that he thinks that I may be autistic. Um, and I've been saying for awhile that I think he has ADHD. So during the pandemic, he was diagnosed with ADHD and I was, um, kind of like unofficially or sort of diagnosed, um, by a psychologist though, with autism.
Speaker 2 00:22:43 Okay. Have you disclosed at work? Did they? No. No, no, they don't. Yeah, you did.
Speaker 3 00:22:55 That's a really great question. That's a really great question too. I'm sorry. No, that's okay. That's okay. Because, you know, I think about that and, um, nothing, I don't think anything would happen. I really don't. Um, and I don't know why I don't disclose. I think, like I really thought about it especially early on, like, should I disclose, should I not? And early on, I really wasn't sure if it would affect their opinion of me. Um, at this point, I don't think it would, but it's been so long. And I haven't said anything that I don't really know how to bring it up. Um, like there are other things about my life that I, you know, typically, um, um, slow to share that, that I've shared with my coworkers because they've asked. Um, but it's hard for me to kind of like start a conversation to volunteer that information. Yeah. Um, when I kind of feel like, well, maybe why do they care? Um, although sometimes, you know, when you tell someone they're like, oh, that makes so much sense. When I told one of my best friends that I found out I was autistic. She was like, oh, oh, she's like, um, I've told you, you were just an ass.
Speaker 2 00:24:18 You're like, I am great friends. Yeah. Right. No,
Speaker 3 00:24:23 Really like we would genuinely have like these crazy falling outs where she wouldn't talk to me for so long because I said something that really offended her. And I genuinely had no clue what it was or what I did because I really wasn't trying to be, I was just saying something factual. And of course, sometimes that comes off as really rude without me realizing it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:24:46 I have the same thing I get to every workplace I have ever been after. I like get to know people 3, 4, 5 months in, you know, almost every single person tells me, you know, I'm really surprised that you're nice when you first started. I thought you were such a bitch. Yeah. That's just the vibe I give off, I guess. You know, when I, here's the thing I like to observe an environment before I insert myself into it. Right. Like I'm part of the workplace and I'm doing my job, but I also don't want to step into the social sphere until I know what's going on socially. So I think most people look at that and just assume I'm stuck up or, you know, think I'm better than them or whatever they assume.
Speaker 3 00:25:35 Yeah. Yeah. I also like I'm of the opinion where I still genuinely, like, I can't really figure out or understand why people wouldn't want to know something factual. So I like, I, I don't really hesitate to say things and sometimes people don't want to hear those facts. Um, I was actually having a work conversation the other day about something, um, that people are kind of upset about. And I told my colleague, I'm like, oh yeah, yeah. I was, you know, fairly vocal about it. And he was like, I do not doubt. Okay. But he meant it nicely. Of course. But yeah. Nope. I got nothing. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:26:25 I know. No, it's just a, it's funny because as we're, as we're talking, there's so many things are going through my head and I'm like, oh, this thing, this thing, this thing. And then it was like, it was like an over abundance of things that I wanted to talk about or ask. And then it's like, there, I was like, ah, too many things. I would just drop it off,
Speaker 3 00:26:41 Like all the time, especially when, uh, I, that happens to me so many times when I'm talking, I'll be like, oh, I want to say this, this and this. And my brain will just stall. Wait, what was I saying? There was like
Speaker 1 00:26:52 A bottleneck of thoughts. They just all come into one. There's only one door, my mouth to my new band name. Ah, she's trying to be in
Speaker 4 00:27:09 Your band. Yeah. That'd be the lead singer because I have a mouth,
Speaker 1 00:27:16 Please be the lead singer. I sound like a dying sheep.
Speaker 4 00:27:21 Well, how does that sound? I don't think I want to know.
Speaker 2 00:27:25 Oh yeah. Oh man. So,
Speaker 1 00:27:32 So let's talk a bit about, um, how autism impacts you at work. Let's start with the, um, the obstacles. What is, what are some of your autistic traits that make work hard for you?
Speaker 3 00:27:48 So I think that, um, you know, the hyper-focus is kind of both good and bad, and I have her focus is great when I can get a lot done. And, but I also tend to sit at my desk for 12 plus hours and not get up to pee or drink water or eat. Um, and that is an obstacle when it comes to being with my family later, because I'm hungry. I am prone to burnout because of that basically because of that hyper-focus and a lot of times when I get in, um, you know, a little bit more burned out, I tend to be a lot more sensitive and reactionary to things. Um, yeah. Um, and that can, you know, that can really come out and like, I get like just desperately sad over something someone said, um, that I really will have totally misinterpreted. Yeah. Um, and that will cause a lot of painful emotions. Um, and it's really kind of really on me for not taking the steps to take care of myself, to be in this space where I can rationally think about the things people are saying.
Speaker 4 00:29:11 That is such a hard one. I find, I know, I know we deal with a lot of that and the things that, a lot of the stuff you're talking about there, and it's like, I know, you know, in those, in those moments, you know, you want to like blame people around you too. And it's like, why didn't you feed me fresh? It's like, well, it's not my job to feed you. Like, I, first of all, I I'm autistic too, so I'm trying to do stuff and make sure I don't do the things to you that you just did to me. Like, we're just like this back and forth, you know, it's like, it's difficult and it's, and it's hard people, the good thing. We have people that love us unconditionally. Right. Right. And
Speaker 3 00:29:47 Yeah, when those things happen, I also tend to like, I really spiral and catastrophize and someone could say something and I will literally think every single person at my work hates me. Um, and I will have to go, you know, take a break or something because I just can't function. I'm too emotional. Um, basically, well, I can't function successfully, we'll say. Um, so yeah, I will say that, you know, while the hyper-focus is good, because it allows me to get a lot of stuff done and meet those deadlines. Um, you know, when that, when that burnout comes and, and it comes pretty often because of the hours, um, I'm, you know, pretty prone to, um, getting upset over nothing.
Speaker 1 00:30:32 I have, I have a similar thing. Mine usually is. What's funny is we both have it, but you usually stifle yours. Yeah. And then wonder why you're like stressed out and your stomach hurts. Yeah. And me, it just, it comes out like constantly, like if I'm overwhelmed or I'm, you know, uh, you know, burdened or, you know, uh, every little thing, I'll just be like, I need that to stop. I need that to stop. And
Speaker 4 00:30:58 It's funny because if we're both in that place, then it's like, we'll go back and forth. I'll be quiet, you know, I'll stifled it. You'll you'll react. And then I'll react to your reaction. And like, kind of like you were saying that, you know, that super sad over something that wasn't that big of a deal, you know, it's like an algo and it's, so it's like this spiral and it's like, we have to stop it. And, you know, we notice it and we take a breath, but, um, excuse me. Yeah. Those are difficult. That's yeah,
Speaker 3 00:31:23 It is difficult. I think, um, like one of the times it happened in the last few months, like my husband was trying to figure out what was going on and we were talking about it and he's like, I think you're really upset over a compliment. I was like, oh, whoa, wow. I don't, I don't know how to take a compliment. You're right.
Speaker 4 00:31:48 I mean, I was, I'm like, of course I hear this. And I'm like, that's awesome. Because it's like, to me, I'm like, oh, good communication between two people who love each other can actually figure things out together to get to the real, you know, what really happened? Like, that's great.
Speaker 2 00:32:03 It doesn't always happen.
Speaker 4 00:32:05 And I also want to say, I appreciate you sharing the hard stuff with us, because I feel like there's oftentimes people, I mean, everyone deals with this kind of stuff, you know, but it's hard to say them out loud to people and it's like, but it's like, we miss the opportunity to share with each other. And it's like to know, like we're not alone, you know? And it's, I feel like I don't know what it is for me necessarily. It's in there. I don't know what it is, but I know, I feel like for so many people, they don't want people to see them. And then the hard times. And it's like, and so I want to just say, thank you for sharing this stuff, because it's like, it's important for other people to be like, I'm not alone kind of thing.
Speaker 1 00:32:45 Yeah. It needs to be normalized. And, you know, de-stigmatized and all that like,
Speaker 3 00:32:50 Oh, absolutely. Honestly, I think the, like the biggest thing about figuring out that I was autistic was realizing that there are other people that are going through similar things. Wow. Whole life, my whole life be, especially I think, because I was misdiagnosed, I felt so alone. I felt like there was no one like me. It was no one going through all of these crazy weird things. Like, yeah. How could it be the same? Like what, like what, like, what's wrong with me? Um, oh my gosh. When I found out that like other people have similar sensory issues to me, I was like, oh, oh. And, um, and that, you know, has, has also helped the people closest to me, understand me more. Um, especially my husband, like that has really helped him understand a lot, like with him too. He's like, you know, sometimes I thought you'd be saying this stuff just to be mean. Yeah. And that is like, never once do I actually ever say something just to be me, like, just never, like I might say some mean things, but it's because those are factual things that, I mean, right. Yeah. Yeah. I think I, I, you know,
Speaker 1 00:34:11 Yeah. When something is mean it's because you made it mean that I was being mean
Speaker 2 00:34:17 And that's just too much mean yeah. Where's the meat here really bad. Was that an accountant joke was an accountant. I'm so proud of you. That was good. That was good
Speaker 1 00:34:32 Checks. You're making me blush now. You're just wearing a red shirt. Oh, that too. Okay. So we talked about the hard stuff. Let's um, let's talk about the, the good stuff. How, how is, um, how do your autistic traits help you at work? Um, I know you said hyper-focus was, was good. Um, what's, what's the rest of the good,
Speaker 3 00:34:56 Um, so hyper-focus is good. I think, um, for me, one of the things, I guess I'd consider it as one of my autistic traits is like, I really just have like this really huge desire. Hunger need to learn things. Like, I love learning new things. I love learning new information. I love learning new concepts. I love learning new ways of thinking. I love learning new ways of being and better ways of being like, just, I love, um, like I feel like personally, if I'm still learning, then I'm still improving. I'm still moving forward. Yeah. That's excellent. That's very awesome. And I think that that translates well into really any career. I think like when I worked in mental health, like, I'm, it's hard for me to say this, but like I did accelerate quickly. I was promoted quickly and pretty far. Um, and you know, since graduating, I've also come a lot of way come a long way in this career pretty quickly.
Speaker 3 00:35:55 Um, and I was talking with someone recently, um, who is familiar with some of the people that I've worked with and they're like, yeah, you know, you're, you're not the typical person who, um, graduated a few years ago. You know, you, you worked under some extremely smart and very demanding people and you've been very successful at it. Um, and I love working under smart people because I love learning that everything that they are willing to teach me. Yeah. And, um, I think that that'll continue to serve me pretty well in, in moving wherever it is that I decide I want to go.
Speaker 4 00:36:34 Yeah, I can definitely see that. So, um, what
Speaker 1 00:36:36 Are some, some of the other, some of the other things that were autism helps you out at work? Huh?
Speaker 3 00:36:41 Hmm. Um, I think that, um, especially where I am the, the PE the type of people that I work with, you know, the veterinary hospital industry, um, people really like authenticity. Right. Um, and I kind of can't help, but be authentic. I really can't. I mean, I can't bring myself to say something untrue. Like I can't, I'm just, you know, um, and I know that that's been a huge benefit in building, working relationships with, you know, the hospital business partners, um, in, in ways that people haven't been able to before, because they, you know, they've even said to me, like, you know, I appreciate it. And I know you're going to be straight with me. Like, you know, obviously sometimes are confidential things that I can't talk about, and I won't talk about those, but other than that, they know that I'm going to be straight up and they appreciate that.
Speaker 2 00:37:44 Um, you know, the same with basically everyone I work with.
Speaker 3 00:37:48 No, no, that's fine. Um, and I think in the same token, you know, when something difficult needs to be said a lot of the times, um, you know, I can kind of bring that up or bring that into the conversation. Um, and, and not always in my, my coworkers are great about doing that too. Um, but I do think sometimes asking the difficult questions is, um, something that I just can't help, but do
Speaker 1 00:38:15 That's awesome. I love it.
Speaker 4 00:38:17 That's a great way to learn. So, I mean, it makes sense that you would be good at that.
Speaker 3 00:38:23 Thanks.
Speaker 1 00:38:25 So, um, I want to step back for, uh, for half a second, a little bit ago, we had talked about that you had not disclosed at work. Right. Um, if you, uh, if you did, would there be any accommodations that you would want or ask for?
Speaker 3 00:38:43 Honestly, no. Like my boss already gives me everything I asked for that, that she possibly can. Um, I don't think there's really anything else that I could even think that would help. I mean, she supports me whenever I need it. She's there, even when she's on vacation, I can text her. Um, she's, I mean, I, I feel bad because I think we all kind of lean on her so much, and I know she has a ton on her plate. Um work-wise um, but she's, she's really been amazing. I don't think there's anything else that I need.
Speaker 4 00:39:26 That's that's I mean, that's great. Yeah. I mean, and it's interesting because, you know, when we're late diagnose, you know, good or bad things, you know, we'll show up still, you know, like, oh, there's this thing that I didn't know, I had, you know, because you have already come up with ways to work around and work around. Yeah. And so it's like, I
Speaker 3 00:39:46 Think also like, you know, one of the main things that me personally I would need is a hybrid work's work schedule. Like when I had to be in the office every single day for more than eight hours a day, I got burned out so quickly, so quickly, so much more quickly than I get burned out. Now, even though I work
Speaker 2 00:40:06 More hours now. Yeah. Being
Speaker 3 00:40:08 Able to work from home even, you know, a few days a week is really priceless insider, you know, exactly. Like before I started working from home, I never realized how much energy it actually took to get out of the house, like to pack my lunch, get my water bottle, get dressed, get shoes on, just everything, driving the commute, getting to the office, being around people, having to be, you know, quote unquote on. It was just so exhausting. I, I can't do that five days a week. I, I never will, again,
Speaker 1 00:40:47 I should say that. I said the same thing. I mean, I'm lucky to be able to say that I can be picky when I'm looking for jobs. Um, yeah. And, and, um, but I, yeah, I'm the same way. I will never go back to an in, in the office job.
Speaker 3 00:41:00 I've been thinking about the advice question. Sure, sure. And I think that, um, if I were just starting out in the workforce, I would really take my time to think about what it is I am interested in to start with, because particularly right now, particularly in this labor market, you can do so many things and tailor it to your needs. There are so many positions now that you can do from home. So many positions, um, there are so many positions that you can do kind of on your own and like quote unquote, gig economy. And there are so many things you can do to kind of avoid the types of things that would burn you out quickly. Um, so I think, you know, both for, if you're just finding out if you're autistic and for, if you're just starting out in the workforce, I mean, for me, you know, obviously you've got to think about the things you want, but I kind of start by thinking about like, okay, what do I know for sure is a deal breaker?
Speaker 3 00:41:58 What can't I deal with? And, um, yes, to basically like start a list and kind of like, alright, well, what other positions that have like none of these things, and also maybe like some things that I want and you can be like, you, I guess you do have to be a little creative. Like maybe you think of something that you like, and you can't really do something in that particular industry, but you can do something for a company in that industry, even if you're not directly doing, you know, the graphic design or the, whatever, the science, whatever it is, you can be like, I am support staff at a company that does really cool stuff, like caring for animals.
Speaker 1 00:42:38 That's awesome. I love it. Yeah. Well, I think that's our time. Uh, I, we had a really good time hanging out with you.
Speaker 2 00:42:46 Thank you for, thanks
Speaker 1 00:42:49 For being here. Thanks for letting us take a couple of hours out of your day. And we appreciate that. Yeah. Glad you're with us.
Speaker 3 00:42:56 Well, thank you both so much for having me really. This was, this was a great conversation. I think, um, what you're doing here is really, really cool. The idea that you've got.
Speaker 0 00:43:08 Well, that was a really good time. What a wonderful guest. Yeah. Thanks. BECI you'd be a wonderful guest. Yeah, you probably would be. As long as you go to Carver resumes.com, click on podcast and type your name and email, because if you don't do that, we're not going to be able to contact you and have you on our show. And we'd really like to have you on our show, please. So please do that and thanks for joining us. And we will talk to you next time.
