A First-Hand Account of Scott Smith’s On the Job Experience

We love to hear the stories of adults with autism as they embark on their employment journies. This diary was submitted to us by our friend Scott Smith about his first day of work at Walmart and gives a first-hand account of his experiences on the job. Thank you for sharing this with us, Scott!

At 12:40 I walked into Walmart excited and completely terrified. I get there and I go into this little room where they shine a blue light at my brain to check my temperature. After that, I met this man who I asked if I could keep my backpack in his office. I then made my way to the cash register and met my first coach, I say first because I had three. They showed me the basics and I was excited to try it on my first customer which happened to be my dad, buying running shoes. After that I captained the register I scanned items, mostly bananas, and tampons, a lot of tampons. They are the most popular at Walmart. After 2 hours of working, I was given a 15-minute break. During this break, I learned about the break room, and realize this is where people keep their stuff. So, I needed to find the guy whose office my backpack was in. There was only one thing I had to do, to do this. I had to page him on the intercom. I picked up the phone, and I asked for him, and my voice was being heard all throughout the store, and it sounded weird. Like an alien robot with a cold. That type of weird. After my break, I met my next trainer who let me scan items and put them in bags. it was pretty tiring. Also, Since I did not have the right training I could not check out beer or put any alcoholic beverages in the bags. That is why I let the trainers do that. Now, this one couple I was checking out had a case of Corona beer and a lot of food. So I look at the trainer and I say, ” I’ll do the food. I’ll leave you the corona.” She laughed. I think she found it funny. After four more hours of working, I had lunch in the break room for a half-hour since there weren’t a lot of people to talk to, and there was more life in a cemetery than in that break room. I just decided to sit down at the table, turn on Disney plus, and watch Phineas and Ferb. After a few more hours of working my shift was finally over. It was 7:30 and I was pooped, everything hurt. My legs, my bottom, my feet and my back. I couldn’t even walk right on the way home which was sadly up a hill. All in all, it was a really good first day that can only get better from here.