A hundred moments in autism - The zinc and chrome plating problem

My summer job at the end of my first year at university was as a zinc and chrome plater in an electronics factory. It was good money for a summer job, though my co-workers treated me a bit too much like an outsider. 

Then one day there was a problem (I forget the details I’m afraid), and the plating department had to be closed down until the problem was fixed, holding up production for the whole factory. 

The problem is explained to me. As my boss is talking, I answer back with the solution.  My boss thinks I have misunderstood the problem and simply repeats it, thinking me an idiot.  

Because of his patronizing attitude, and the fact that this is a summer job and I still get paid even when the department isn’t working, I don’t bother trying again to be understood.  

The department is shut for three and a half days, it takes the seven other people in the department and numerous management figures this amount time to come up with the same solution it had taken me 0.00002 nanoseconds to come to.  It is a simple solution, and no sooner does somebody think of it than the problem is fixed and the department is up and running. 

This is one moment, but it is also a regular part of my life. Sometimes autists just think too quickly and the neurotypicals that govern our lives can’t keep up. 

Often we care and try and do something about it. Sometimes we just sit back and enjoy getting paid for doing nothing.