# Anyone called "slow" at work



## FallenofTrack (Jul 23, 2010)

Hey, everyone. I started working a few days ago, at Macy's, as a price support person. My responsibility is basically to scan the barcodes on clothing and other items, and check to see if the ticketed price needs a discount sticker. There are a lot of items to scan, and also a form that I use to see what needs to be scanned for a discount and then checked off the list once I do it. Well, one thing that I am always somewhat paranoid about when I start a new job is that employees and the direct supervisors are going to think I am slow at my job tasks. I usually stick it out at a job until I get better and feel confident in my abilities. I haven't worked in a couple of years, and this job has gotten me back into the workplace, so I want to do a good job, and be seen as competent.

Today, I went into work, thinking that I was going to try to be faster and get more items scanned. However, I am not someone who shops a lot and before being employed at Macy's, I hardly ever went in there to purchase anything, so I am really just getting more aware of where each brand name is located in a particular department. Also, I had issues with the scanning device that I use. The discount sticker roll jammed up in printing a few times, and I had to get help to fix it from my supervisor and she gave me tips on how to prevent that from happening. All of this just slowed me down, and then it seemed like every article of clothing I scanned had a discount, so it took me a long time to get through one clothing rack, before moving on to another one. I finally got into the swing of things, after about an hour and a half of my shift, and I work about four hours for a shift. When it came down to my last hour of the shift, the employee who has been training me, this week, made a comment that by the end of my work shifts, I should have at least a certain amount of items scanned. She also made it seem like I was going to slow. since I hadn't gotten anywhere near that many pieces scanned. The whole thing just annoyed me and I felt stupid.

Has anyone else felt like this in the workplace.


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## ilsr (Aug 29, 2010)

I wouldn't worry about it since you're just starting. If that particular employee continues to say that after say 3 months then she may be a problem coworker to you. There's going to be some crappy equipment and everyone has to deal with it. Some places don't bother fixing the problem for years because everyone just wants to do their job and that's it. Only some jerks who want to be a bully manager or think their own track to a higher salary structure will push people they can prey on so they can look good and try to show to upper management they "fixed" things or "fixed" people.

I would try not to worry the first week at a new job. Usually people in general try to correct you. I wouldn't take it personally. Just keep in mind you're new and you're just starting. 
Maybe try to show you appreciate their help. Of course after 3 months if this keeps up and they keep trying to show you're "slow" or incompetent to others then you have a coworker problem.

Some people thought I was too slow at a grocery cashier job I did also. Even customers (some fat women who kept coming back to the store like 3 times during the whole day) would try to push the buttons for me and say they used to work here. I quit after a few weeks; I didn't fit in and I really was crappy and dyslexic on a 10-key. Although I'm ok on top row number keys. Even when I was ok at an IT job (they kept me multitasked more while they laid other people off, so I know they kept using me so I couldn't be slow or useless to uppper management) my enemies would respond disrespectfully and ask me insincerely how I fixed that, or why it didn't work when they were trying to fix that. Very irritating and an attack. One time when I was feeling carefree I just said "it's magic!".. haha very rare though I felt that good.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

I would think that that goal would be an eventual objective, not immediate. However, the faster, the better is the way to do it.

I would just continue to get faster - use the "paranoia" as motivation.


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## howard26 (Jun 28, 2008)

Yes, it happened, but i don't know why. Maybe it was the way he saw me? I was working at sicily's pizza, and the manager didn't think i was around, and said "where's the dumb guy?". I was pissed, and couldn't hide it. He was embarrased when he saw me. I did get a little revenge, because this guy didn't climb up the ladder of success. I saw him working a clerk job at walgreen's. I made sure that he knew that i saw him. Loved it. :boogie


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## chriswatch (Oct 6, 2010)

Yes, I have been called slow at work. It didn't stop there. I got fired from Subway because I worked too slow. Part of the reason I got fired from Steak n Shake was the same reason....I was too slow. Don't feel bad when people say that you are slow, it's not our fault, it's our disorder. I've worked around 10 jobs in my lifetime, and at about 5 of them i was criticized for being too slow. I was worried like you were when I was younger because I didn't understand that it was the anxiety that was slowing me down. Us anxious people do things more carefully than people who don't have anxiety, hence, we do them slower. But, don't worry, with practice on working faster, you can get faster. The reason these people complain about speed is because they want things done ASAP and the want quality of work as well. This is just the way that workplaces function and how they stay in business. If society moved at a crawl, for example there would be tons of customers complaining at McDonalds about not getting their food quickly enough, it would be chaos. I even had my friends openly call me "so slow" to my face. People w/out anxiety just don't understand what it's like to have anxiety. They expect us to be like them. As far as I'm concerned, it's like expecting a guy in a wheelchair to hop up and stop walking. The worst part is they don't ask why you are working slow. It's even more ignorant when they assume you are stupid because you are working slow. Just remember, you can only give 100% and do the best you can do, and if that's not okay with your employer, than the job isn't for u, and it's time to move on to a different job that better suits you.


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## Xephere (Jul 29, 2009)

I know how you feel. I used to work as an independent contractor at my local tv station and this is probably the most high-pressure, fast moving, and stressful environment ever. I would have to fill out, and then make copies of a paper called a "rundown", that tells the news anchors and people in the control room how long the news stories are and what tape the footage is on. Then, on top of that, I would have to sort out the scripts and then make sure I hand those out to everyone in time. It would take me a while to do this, and it would hold up the entire news cast.

I was let go for this and I guess it was because people were complaining about how slow I was. I didn't feel like this was my fault at first but I thought more about this. I could have probably left the spaces in the rundown blank, but instead I stood there waiting for the footage to get edited before I could write down the information for it. That's why it I was taking so long. If that wasn't bad enough, there was also the fact I wasn't socializing very much because of my SA/Avoidance. That's what pretty much blew it for me. 

The experience of being fired really destroyed any self confidence I had. I felt completely incompetent. I haven't wanted to get another job because I was afraid of not measuring up to their expectations.


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## Lonely Hobbit (Aug 31, 2009)

FallenofTrack said:


> Hey, everyone. I started working a few days ago, at Maci's, as a price support person.


Do you mean Mac*y*'s?


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## FallenofTrack (Jul 23, 2010)

Socially Anxious said:


> Do you mean Mac*y*'s?


Thank you for correcting me on that. That just goes to show you how much I actually shop at some of these places. LOL.  Silly me.


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## CeilingStarer (Dec 29, 2009)

I wouldn't stress too much. They all know you're new, and that coworker is just letting you know how fast you'll have to eventually get... which you will in time.

There's always the insecure types, who try and put-down the 'newbie', to keep any attention/criticism off of themselves. I've experienced this, and it generally ends after you've been there a few weeks.


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## FallenofTrack (Jul 23, 2010)

Xephere said:


> I know how you feel. I used to work as an independent contractor at my local tv station and this is probably the most high-pressure, fast moving, and stressful environment ever. I would have to fill out, and then make copies of a paper called a "rundown", that tells the news anchors and people in the control room how long the news stories are and what tape the footage is on. Then, on top of that, I would have to sort out the scripts and then make sure I hand those out to everyone in time. It would take me a while to do this, and it would hold up the entire news cast.
> 
> I was let go for this and I guess it was because people were complaining about how slow I was. I didn't feel like this was my fault at first but I thought more about this. I could have probably left the spaces in the rundown blank, but instead I stood there waiting for the footage to get edited before I could write down the information for it. That's why it I was taking so long. If that wasn't bad enough, there was also the fact I wasn't socializing very much because of my SA/Avoidance. That's what pretty much blew it for me.
> 
> The experience of being fired really destroyed any self confidence I had. I felt completely incompetent. I haven't wanted to get another job because I was afraid of not measuring up to their expectations.


Sorry for your experience. In my case, it's like I am nervous just even stepping out on the floor to get the work done, and then the pressure of having to do it all quickly so that the numbers look good, just adds to my discomfort. What makes it "harder" or slows me down even more, is that not every brand name has a sign hanging over that specific area, out on the floor of the store, so I have to walk up to some of the racks and check the brand name on the tags, to see if I need to scan them to check for pieces that need a discount, instead of just simply looking at the form I get when I start my shift, then looking for that brand name sign, and then going to those racks to check for discounts. Some people could probably do all of this very quickly and still be efficient at it, but I get overwhelmed at having to sort through all of those racks to check brand names and having to look at a form that's several pages long, filled with codes for the clothes.

On top of that, I have to be on the ball from when I start my shift up until the end. There is really no time to make up for lost time during a four hour shift.

A few years ago, I worked at a dry cleaners, as a shirt presser. That was also a job in which I really felt the pressure to get the job done, because obviously a lot of the customers dropped their shirts off for same day service and pick up. But at least with that job, when I first took over the position and didn't know how to do it quickly and efficiently, I could recover for lost time by working through my lunch break until I got fast enough to do the job, without needing that additional time. 
With this job, there is no leeway.


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## stylicho (Nov 8, 2003)

SA sufferers are generally perfectionists so that tends to make us work slower. I remember when I got my first real job at Burger King. I took the time to make sure the Whopper looked like the Whopper you see on the billboard. I even had one customer say he wanted me to make his whopper after watching me make a couple for other people :lol. Although I was slower at making them then the girl who usually worked that position. So if a bus came in we were in deep **** if I was working the position lol.


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## FallenofTrack (Jul 23, 2010)

CeilingStarer said:


> I wouldn't stress too much. They all know you're new, and that coworker is just letting you know how fast you'll have to eventually get... which you will in time.


Yeah, definitetely. This is how I am trying to look at it. When I got annoyed, it wasn't even at that coworker. The annoyance was at myself for being "slow". I realized that this employee was just letting me know the expectations of the job, and she actually does have a pretty decent attitude when it comes to training new employees. She knows the ins and outs of what the job entails, so I respect her for that.


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## FallenofTrack (Jul 23, 2010)

stylicho said:


> SA sufferers are generally perfectionists so that tends to make us work slower. I remember when I got my first real job at Burger King. I took the time to make sure the Whopper looked like the Whopper you see on the billboard. I even had one customer say he wanted me to make his whopper after watching me make a couple for other people :lol. Although I was slower at making them then the girl who usually worked that position. So if a bus came in we were in deep **** if I was working the position lol.


:hahaThank you for giving me a laugh. Yeah, it's funny, because I am starting to realize that I can definitely be a perfectionist in some instances. I tend to recheck a lot of things that I do, to make sure that I didn't screw something up, and that can definitely put a strain on the amount of time I have to complete a task.


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## Think2Much (May 2, 2010)

I had a very similar experience. I worked at Macy's for about 6 months doing the little red stickers as well. I quit the first time there after about 3 weeks. I felt an overwhelming anxiety while doing the job. Confused by looking at lthe lists, trying to figure out where the clothes were, trying to find any kind of organization was a huge struggle for me. 

Was about half way through my shift one evening when I started to have an overwhelming feeling of panic that said, I'm not doing a good job. I phoned the on-duty manager to say that I was quitting and left. The next day was regretful and came in to say I wanted to give it another shot. Partly because I felt ashamed for quitting and partly because I didn't want it on my job record that I left abruptly. I knew that I was slow, yet they seemed surprised that I thought I was doing a bad job. Worked there several more months until something else came along and never really felt like I got the hang of it. Some of us are just slower than others at some tasks, and I'm guessing that quality of work is important to you as well. A lot of people quit or goofed off while I was there because they got bored or didn't care. Places need people like us that our more concerned with quality than how fast you can get done.


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## mrfixit (Jun 25, 2009)

i've been called slow but not because of actually being slow but of looking like i'm being slow... allow me to explain. there is a saying in the field "the boss is coming... look busy" (or something along those lines). so in actuality i'm being as productive as the rest, if not... more, but my body language does not show it cus my body language shows being calm and cool = slow. 

so it is mainly about looking busy than actually being busy. i am mellow and calm but that does not show "hard worker" while i still do my job. others have learned that "looking busy" looks like they are actually doing something when they are not... in fact, they do less work than a mellow and calm person does... they have learned the "tricks of the trade". 

it really does suck to be called slow by these experts in "looking busy" though.

all i can say is that i understand your situation but it should be nothing hard cus that job does not require too much thinking. sure, it does to get things rolling but after a few days you will get things lke second nature. don't be o hard on yourself... what you need to focus is on climbing the latter... that is if that's what you aim for. 

if you plan on getting ahead, this is nothing but a temporary job... get some skills out of it, move on to the next step.


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## Glacial (Jun 16, 2010)

I used to be terrified of having supervisors or co-workers thinking "I am supid" or "slow." Then I learned to periodically ask my supervisor, "how do you think I am doing? what do you think of my work product" and if you're feeling really brave, "what areas do you like and what areas could I use improvement?" To my surprise, I got overwhelmingly positive reponses from boss and this gave the confidence I needed. I am the type of person where I need feedback and I believe it is a respectable trait because it shows I care. Granted, I don't go around asking everyone for their opinion, but a supervisor could be a good person to ask if you're worried about your work.


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## FallenofTrack (Jul 23, 2010)

mrfixit said:


> i've been called slow but not because of actually being slow but of looking like i'm being slow... allow me to explain. there is a saying in the field "the boss is coming... look busy" (or something along those lines). so in actuality i'm being as productive as the rest, if not... more, but my body language does not show it cus my body language shows being calm and cool = slow.
> 
> so it is mainly about looking busy than actually being busy. i am mellow and calm but that does not show "hard worker" while i still do my job. others have learned that "looking busy" looks like they are actually doing something when they are not... in fact, they do less work than a mellow and calm person does... they have learned the "tricks of the trade".
> 
> ...


I totally understand what you are saying. I am also the tpe who looks "calm and relaxed" even when I feel overwhelmed, busy, in a rush to get things done. I've had it happen to me on other jobs in which I was definitely getting work done, but my body language didn't project a sense of "being busy enough". I've had past coworkers tell me that I definitely appear very calm.

And yeah, this job is supposed to be temporary. I am thinking of going back to school. I've had issues with depression, so I dropped out of college a few years ago, and have barely worked in the past few years. So that's why I am making a big issue out of this job, because I can't afford to get fired, quit, or leave yet.


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## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

Being slow at work is a major concern for me. Mostly because of anxiety, I tend to learn and do tasks slower than the average new employee. I get stressed out about going too slowly, which in turn makes me even slower.

It's not easy, but you have to ignore people at work who hate on the new person. Chances are, they hate on _all _the new people. A lot of experienced employees forget that new people need time and training.


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## stylicho (Nov 8, 2003)

> i've been called slow but not because of actually being slow but of looking like i'm being slow... allow me to explain. there is a saying in the field "the boss is coming... look busy" (or something along those lines). so in actuality i'm being as productive as the rest, if not... more, but my body language does not show it cus my body language shows being calm and cool = slow. so it is mainly about looking busy than actually being busy. i am mellow and calm but that does not show "hard worker" while i still do my job. others have learned that "looking busy" looks like they are actually doing something when they are not... in fact, they do less work than a mellow and calm person does... they have learned the "tricks of the trade". it really does suck to be called slow by these experts in "looking busy" though.all i can say is that i understand your situation but it should be nothing hard cus that job does not require too much thinking. sure, it does to get things rolling but after a few days you will get things lke second nature. don't be o hard on yourself... what you need to focus is on climbing the latter... that is if that's what you aim for. if you plan on getting ahead, this is nothing but a temporary job... get some skills out of it, move on to the next step


Lol you made me thing of something really funny because you're absolutely right. One thing SASers have to realize is that there are a lot of BSers out there. For example, I did a little gig for an offshore oil rig company. I can't remember exactly when this was but I think it was around the same year I worked at Burger King. Anyways, I was new to the workforce and all. I drove to work with a guy who had been doing this kind of job for 10 years. Keep in mind I was about 200 miles from my house but still on land. I worked my *** off for that one week lol. But I stood looking instead of helping when a "higher up" was using the fork truck and he said something to the even higher ups and they told me that I needed to light a fire under my arse lol. So I took this personally of course and quit. The funny part about this is the guy I took to work with me walked around with another guy one carrying a pipe wrench the other a bucket. I always saw them walking with big smiles on their faces. I came to find out they weren't doing anything but walking around looking busy :lol hahaha. He even said this. So keep that in mind when you're starting your new job. A lot of times its a facade when people look like they're doing a lot.


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## supersoshychick (Jun 4, 2009)

FallenofTrack said:


> Hey, everyone. I started working a few days ago, at Macy's, as a price support person. My responsibility is basically to scan the barcodes on clothing and other items, and check to see if the ticketed price needs a discount sticker. There are a lot of items to scan, and also a form that I use to see what needs to be scanned for a discount and then checked off the list once I do it. Well, one thing that I am always somewhat paranoid about when I start a new job is that employees and the direct supervisors are going to think I am slow at my job tasks. I usually stick it out at a job until I get better and feel confident in my abilities. I haven't worked in a couple of years, and this job has gotten me back into the workplace, so I want to do a good job, and be seen as competent.
> 
> Today, I went into work, thinking that I was going to try to be faster and get more items scanned. However, I am not someone who shops a lot and before being employed at Macy's, I hardly ever went in there to purchase anything, so I am really just getting more aware of where each brand name is located in a particular department. Also, I had issues with the scanning device that I use. The discount sticker roll jammed up in printing a few times, and I had to get help to fix it from my supervisor and she gave me tips on how to prevent that from happening. All of this just slowed me down, and then it seemed like every article of clothing I scanned had a discount, so it took me a long time to get through one clothing rack, before moving on to another one. I finally got into the swing of things, after about an hour and a half of my shift, and I work about four hours for a shift. When it came down to my last hour of the shift, the employee who has been training me, this week, made a comment that by the end of my work shifts, I should have at least a certain amount of items scanned. She also made it seem like I was going to slow. since I hadn't gotten anywhere near that many pieces scanned. The whole thing just annoyed me and I felt stupid.
> 
> Has anyone else felt like this in the workplace.


Yeah, and what pisses me off is they think that you're an expert at it in one freaking day! It's like they want you to stress out so that you can quit, things like this makes me hate people. They don't even say that you're doing a good job, just negative criticism constantly! Don't give up, you'll have to deal with this for at least 3 weeks.


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## FallenofTrack (Jul 23, 2010)

supersoshychick said:


> Yeah, and what pisses me off is they think that you're an expert at it in one freaking day! It's like they want you to stress out so that you can quit, things like this makes me hate people. They don't even say that you're doing a good job, just negative criticism constantly! Don't give up, you'll have to deal with this for at least 3 weeks.


Very true. At job I have had in the past, there were always the classic obnoxious employees who expected me to know everything within a couple of minutes of being there. And you make a good point about some of them seeming to want to see new employees fail or quit.


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## FallenofTrack (Jul 23, 2010)

Think2Much said:


> I had a very similar experience. I worked at Macy's for about 6 months doing the little red stickers as well. I quit the first time there after about 3 weeks. I felt an overwhelming anxiety while doing the job. Confused by looking at lthe lists, trying to figure out where the clothes were, trying to find any kind of organization was a huge struggle for me.
> 
> Was about half way through my shift one evening when I started to have an overwhelming feeling of panic that said, I'm not doing a good job. I phoned the on-duty manager to say that I was quitting and left. The next day was regretful and came in to say I wanted to give it another shot. Partly because I felt ashamed for quitting and partly because I didn't want it on my job record that I left abruptly. I knew that I was slow, yet they seemed surprised that I thought I was doing a bad job. Worked there several more months until something else came along and never really felt like I got the hang of it. Some of us are just slower than others at some tasks, and I'm guessing
> that quality of work is important to you as well. A lot of people quit or goofed off while I was there because they got bored or didn't care. Places need people like us that our more concerned with quality than how fast you can get done.


It's good to know that even though you quit abruptly, you ended up giving the job another chance, and that they actually let you have another chance to work there. You stated something that hit home for me, in that you said that trying to find some means of organization was a struggle for you. That's the same feeling that I have had for the past few days. I have felt like I haven't been able to come up with some kind of structure to aide me with the tasks. I have simply been rushing around trying to find the clothes and just scanning everything in sight because it's difficult to go on a hunt for a specific style of clothing for a specific brand name that is listed on the form, especially when there are a lot of racks of clothing for one brand name. I do use the form as a guide to find the brand names that need to be scanned, but in terms of tring to find the specific pieces of clothing, that's annoying.

I did another shift today, and I was faster at it, and it helped that I didn't have any issues with the scanning device. So I was a lot faster than I was yesterday. I was also honest with my direct supervisor, and I let her know that yesterday had been a bad day for me because of the issues with the scanning device and that it took me a while to find some of the brand names. She was understanding about it and let me know that she wasn't expecting much more than that from the new employees, because this week was a time for us to learn what we need to do and get familiar with the store. So I am happy that she was understanding.


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## Hello22 (Feb 10, 2010)

stylicho said:


> SA sufferers are generally perfectionists so that tends to make us work slower. I remember when I got my first real job at Burger King. I took the time to make sure the Whopper looked like the Whopper you see on the billboard. I even had one customer say he wanted me to make his whopper after watching me make a couple for other people :lol. Although I was slower at making them then the girl who usually worked that position. So if a bus came in we were in deep **** if I was working the position lol.


Lol. Ya i'm a bit of a perfectionist at work. I don't really like 'short-cutting' my way through work, as i do things to the book, sad i know, but at least if anything happens, no one can blame me for doing it wrong.


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## FallenofTrack (Jul 23, 2010)

stylicho said:


> Lol you made me thing of something really funny because you're absolutely right. One thing SASers have to realize is that there are a lot of BSers out there. For example, I did a little gig for an offshore oil rig company. I can't remember exactly when this was but I think it was around the same year I worked at Burger King. Anyways, I was new to the workforce and all. I drove to work with a guy who had been doing this kind of job for 10 years. Keep in mind I was about 200 miles from my house but still on land. I worked my *** off for that one week lol. But I stood looking instead of helping when a "higher up" was using the fork truck and he said something to the even higher ups and they told me that I needed to light a fire under my arse lol. So I took this personally of course and quit. The funny part about this is the guy I took to work with me walked around with another guy one carrying a pipe wrench the other a bucket. I always saw them walking with big smiles on their faces. I came to find out they weren't doing anything but walking around looking busy :lol hahaha. He even said this. So keep that in mind when you're starting your new job. A lot of times its a facade when people look like they're doing a lot.


This is too funny. It's funny how some people will go out of their way to master the art of looking busy instead of trying to accomplish the actual work that needs to be done. To them, any action is for appearances sake.


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## kaossalami (Oct 8, 2010)

I actually worked my balls off at my last job and got fired from it. Because i didnt "talk much?" maybe that was it. Only words my boss said to me was "your very lackadaisical and here is your last paycheck." when all my coworkers said that the lackadaisical part didn't describe me at all


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## WTFunk (Jul 8, 2017)

Well said! This is exactly how I feel. It's frustrating when my wife & friends can't relate, are not sympathetic or very supportive. This really hurts and makes me feel worse, alone and miserable. It's a bad place I'm all too familiar with.


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## Kevin001 (Jan 2, 2015)

A girl did call me slow at work....still does.....I think she is just messing....I hope :um.


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## Twilightforce (Aug 7, 2016)

I use to be slow but now all my coworkers are slow or some of them just like milking the clock.


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## Qolselanu (Feb 15, 2006)

I do feel a bit slow at my package handler job. It's probably related to my depression and/or OCPD. Thought when I say slow, its more of a memory issue. I'm awful at memorizing where packages go in a truck. I also doubt myself if I actually scanned a package before loading it into a truck - causing me to double scan a lot of packages and therefore wasting a little time. Then again I don't BS with excessive talk while on the job like I see others do, so I do save some time in that regard. But I am quick and efficient in other ways. I was one of the quickest scanner/labelers (even with four people unloading the trailer) when I worked around the trailers and I never needed a sticky tape gun - a quick perpendicular yank on any roll of tape worked instead.


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## Mlt18 (Jun 29, 2016)

I used to be slow when I started my job. Now I'm faster than most of them, except I try not to show it because then people will screw around and act lazy on purpose. 

Sent from my SM-J700P using Tapatalk


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

I'm okay with written instruction but verbal training.....oh god.... It all goes through one ear and out the other. My listening comprehension is poor and my short term memory is sooo bad. A lot of times I just don't get it.. Unfortunately when you get trained for a new job it mainly involves someone verbally telling you what to do since it's faster for them. I take notes but...I can't write as fast as they speak. It's a real problem.


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