I work with kids on the spectrum too, It's the best job in the world
I'll share a story that my coworkers think is hilarious. One time I was toileting a kid and I hear him ask to wipe. He was fully potty trained so this was out of character for him but I opened the bathroom door and told him to get some toilet paper and he looked at me and said it again, "wipe". So I lean past him to get him some paper, figured maybe it was stuck in the dispenser, and as I'm reaching past him he grabbed the hem of my long, flowy sweater and went ahead and wiped himself! I didn't even have time to react. Thank goodness I keep a full set of clothes at work!
Oh, god that is hysterical!
I had a student urinate all over the classroom. Out of frustration I asked, "Why did you do that?" I never expected an answer, because what answer would suffice?
His reply was, "I'm bored." After that, I would do an hourly status check to make sure he wasn't getting bored.
Before working in a school, I used work in a tech support call center. I tell my current co-workers that: "No body does anything weird or unusual to me since I started here." Neurotypical people are so broken, it isn't even funny.
By way of example, I had someone in the call center report their mouse was broken. A coworker jumped up and said, "Let me show you how to fix this!" She ran over to the guy, grabbed his hand and elbow then gentle moved his arm and the mouse away from the edge of the desk.
She advised me, "That should be good for a week or two." She was right.
Another woman received a new monitor and immediately reported that it was broken. I went over and sure enough, it wasn't working. On a hunch, I tried the power button. That fixed it.
An hour later, I was called back to her desk as the monitor was acting up again. This time, there were several people looking at her and laughing. The power was off again. It happened three more times that day. I was almost tempted to replace it, as it seem to be an issue with the switch. But it really didn't seem like an issue with the switch.
The next day, the same thing happened. Finally, I glared at the people in the area and I asked, "Is someone turning off your monitor?"
"Yes!" she said. "You understand! The old monitor had a red and blue light, red for off and blue for on. This one has an orange and green light. The green light bothers me. So, I press the button, the orange light comes on and the monitor turns off. How do I stop this from happening?"
Gales of laughter from the people in the area, because this monitor problem she was having was also happening to them. They couldn't ignore her and the show was becoming a huge distraction. Apparently she was no better at talking to people on the phone than operating a computer, so her boss told me to hold on until Friday. Because, Friday is the day they fire people.
By Wednesday afternoon, I tracked down a monitor with a red and blue light for her. I wrote myself a note to swap out the old monitor for the new one for her replacement. Never heard from her again.
my husband still points out “Delmember” signs to me whenever we see them!
