45, ADD and totally in the wrong job, I feel suck and screwed

@ Munchkin

First of all, thanks for your reply. I’ve been alone in the dark for so many years. At least someone is listening to me.

I have to make this short cuz I have to go back to work in 10 min.

Well, reason I really want to complain about him is because I know very well about my skills comparing with others.

Also I am fully aware of how other branches operates.

Thank’s for the reminder about consequence. Think about this. I’ve been patient for 4 years!!! 4 years!!! I pushed myself to a point where I literally couldn’t be any better than that.

I work at a top branch. I supposed it means something. I am not at the bottom of the barrel. I am actually belong to the top of the food chain!! Just my boss never stop telling me about my mistakes. No matter once a month, once every 3 months or once every year!! Do you understand how it feels when you can even forgive yourself for your error because you know that even with this flaw, you are still MUCH MUCH better than other average employees (Look, I fix stuff for other branches on a regular basis, plus 100 more things that I technically dont need to do if I am working at other branches..)

@billd As a matter of fact, I don’t need any accomodation. This is the thing. Once I have a chance to work at other branch, I am 100% sure that I will not only shine, I will stand out from the crowd!! (in a good way). I am always the best anywhere I work except with this bully boss… This guy just don’t know when to stop…

I’ve been thinking for 4 years, I will make sure that I plan everything out before I do so.

Have a good one, need to get back to work.

It may be against the law for employers to hold your disability against you, but it is sometimes hard to prove that they are. It’s also sometimes hard to admit I need any accommodations. The method of promoting at my work is almost impossible to maneuver through for me. I’ve applied and made three “short lists” and gone to the interview three times and done pretty bad all three times. These are behavioral interviews where I am asked 3 part long questions that have 3 part long answers and I get lost in my answers and then get nervous and more lost and end up doing very poorly and not getting selected. Right now I am temporarily promoted to the next higher position for 2 months and I am doing very well at the job. I know and the supervisors know I can do the job, but there has to be an opening and I have to do exceedingly well on the interview to get the job. There will likely be an opening in the next couple of months and I’ll put in for it, but I’m very nervous about the interview tbh.

Should I ask for an accommodation to get a promotion? Will it work if I do? Or should I just accept that I will never get that promotion because of this stupid process that I have to go through? Or will I do better at the interview now that I’m medicated? Who knows but I’m getting pretty frustrated because it’s obvious to everyone that I can do the job as I have been for the last month doing it.

@Tea I am sorry to hear that we are sharing a similar problem related to our disability.  I am still searching for solution to my social related issue. 

In my case, it seems that I can talk in a very professional manner within my area of expertise at work.  However, anything outside my comfort zone is very unpredictable.  I can be a funny person. But for the most part, I think many thinks that I am weird.

At work, my solution is to be patient and focus on what’s important. I script and analyse all typed of confrontation while I am at home. I just try the best I can to memorize all that. I dont initiate any confrontation as I am not good at it. I use it when I am on defensive mode instead.  

At least I was able to have a discussion with my boss about my disability everytime he mention about my mistakes.  Although he don’t listen.   At least he don’t see as a threat yet( He still thinks that he is in control, that I will not do anything about it).  But I know that I can use it against him if make a final decision and discuss about him to the head office.

I will not stop looking for better options for my situation. At least I know that my employment at this company is not in danger yet.

Does anyone know if members of this site can private mag each other?

Frustration is a large part of my problem, yes. And often I assume that others are hostile, with no evidence to support it, so

Behavior Therapy may help if I can focus on it..

Good luck with your manager, I usually had bad luck with bosses and co workers .. stranger in a strange land.

‘When should an individual with a disability request a reasonable accommodation?

An individual with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation at any time during the application process or during the period of employment. The ADA does not preclude an employee with a disability from requesting a reasonable accommodation because s/he did not ask for one when applying for a job or after receiving a job offer. Rather, an individual with a disability should request a reasonable accommodation when s/he knows that there is a workplace barrier that is preventing him/her, due to a disability, from effectively competing for a position, performing a job, or gaining equal access to a benefit of employment.(23) As a practical matter, it may be in an employee’s interest to request a reasonable accommodation before performance suffers or conduct problems occur.’

This is from the Americans with disabilities act and applies to my situation. I think if I do decide to ask for an accommodation on the basis of my disability. The part about competing for a position applies. I’ll think about whether I decide to request a reasonable accommodation or not. I might do much better with the medication and not need it. But, it’s a shame really that the method of promotion discriminates against someone with ADD.Also I should state that I am a federal employee.

It’s a verbal interview with 3 people asking questions. They ask everyone interviewing the same questions so it’s not discrimination and in fact if I got promoted in a different way some of the others that apply might say they were discriminated against. The questions are similar to this; Give us a situation, your action, and the result when you’ve had to persuade someone to do something they don’t want to do. Now these are work situations and must come from work experiences, but explaining the details takes time and those interviewing me don’t necessarily do my job so I have to explain things in explicit detail. There will be 6 or 7 questions in a similar vein that require a lot of detail and explanation.

@Sailing Here are some of my thoughts after reading of your situation. Not knowing your exact circumstances, they may or may not be feasable. I have seen some nasty office politics in the past.

Don’t make this an issue about your boss, even though it is. Make it about the job you and the others are doing and what you need to be able to perform more efficiently and with less stress. As Munchkin points out, the sorry SOB has his own issues.

You might first approach your boss about getting a manager. Point out that this would allow you and your coworkers to concentrate on the job for which you were hired, and the manager might be able to shoulder some of the load your boss is carrying, making his job easier. Offer to support your boss in such a proposal presented to his superiors. You might be able to come up with facts and statistics to supporting such a proposal. Make your boss feel like he will be the one to benefit. If nothing else, tell him that if he has a manager then he won’t have to deal with you anymore.

If this approach does not work or is not feasable, then go to his, your boss’s, superiors. Upper management, if any good, is always interested in efficiency and profitability. Find a way to make it about that. You seem like a fairly bright employee. Often the best ideas of how to run a company come from the bottom levels, that is the employees who are actually doing the work on a day to day basis. If any good, they know their job and how to do it better.

Well, I’ve got to go now, but I think you can get where I am going with this. Good Luck.

@Sailing – Boy do I feel your pain! I left working at a print shop about 4 years ago when my husband’s company transferred him to a different city. I had been doing that kind of work my whole career, and didn’t know anything different. I decided to change careers because the pressure to do more and produce more while staff were being cut every year was literally killing me.

By chance, I ended up getting a job at a non-profit, but I still ended up having jerks dump extra work on me, and I was afraid to say no – that had never been an option in printing. Finally I got a private coach who told me to politely say NO the next time each of the repeat offenders tried to push a project on me – she actually made me email her to let her know when I had followed through.

Also on her advice, I met with my boss to go over my job description. I showed him where I was unable to get things done that were IN my job description due to doing things that WERE NOT in my job description. I was terrifed for quite awhile that I had let him down by not being “agreeable” to anything asked of me, but people actually ended up respecting me for it. They are grateful I’m doing my correct job duties and they can now rely on me for that.

I think it has ended up OK – amazing! I was so sure the job was over for me – that I had mismanaged myself into a corner. I was looking for another job! I think part of the success was the fact that it’s a nonprofit, not a cold, hard, brutal manufacturing environment where product is put ahead of people… I’ve had to take a small pay cut to be here, but it’s worth it. I’m doing what I’m good at, and there is enough flexibility for a talented, but adhd person to survive. Good Luck!