I grew up living an event-oriented and an information-oriented rather than a relationship-oriented lifestyle.  Whatever sporting event, concert or memorabilia show I attended was what my life revolved around.  When that wasn’t happening, I was reading books on facts and statistics.  I also worked a job for 17 years where I was typing in a cubicle with no phone.  After that, I had delivered newspapers, phone books, and pizzas, as well as having a courier route for 2 years while in Minnesota.

Then when the economy collapsed in 2008 and jobs were hard to come by, I moved to North Carolina and accepted 2 customer service jobs, one with McDonald’s and one with Walmart.  The McDonald’s I worked at was corporate-owned, and the Walmart I worked at was brand new, and they were both willing to work with me. My resume clearly implied that I had no prior customer service experience.  It was a stroke of luck that I got both jobs in such a tough economy in 2008 in a new state and being in a new state.

I didn’t bring up my mental diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder, ADD, and OCD.  The Equality Act 2010 provides for reasonable accommodations for employers to make when hiring workers with mental illness.  So, if someone applies for a customer service job today, they don’t have to hide their diagnoses and hope for the best when applying.