I feel like work is making my odd cognitive difficulties more...well, difficult. Now I don't have any true idea of whether I've got any definite syndrome...all I know is, I'm getting very frustrated by imprecise communication where I'm expected to interpret vague directions ("put this one in that one", pointing quickly to a diagram, as if that were sufficient) or pick up on _ad hoc_ changes in a routine that I've only just barely learned to memorize in its default form.
I have the following particular difficulties that make my job harder:
1. I tend to extreme literalism when interpreting speech, particularly under stress and in unfamiliar circumstances, so ambiguous directions that rely heavily on context known only to the speaker ("it's the one on your left!" *looks and sees a half-dozen possibilities to my left*) reduce me to confusion.
2. I learn practical skills poorly by reading and by verbal explanation. I have to be shown, and I have to touch things, to learn them best. one of the more senior guys is pretty good at walking me through procedures, and I learn better from him; the other guy (who was the only guy I could get direction from today) tends towards rushed explanations of the "it's really easy, just do this and this and this, got it?" sort. Which brings me to...
@lizardsquid yeah. that's the thing, these folks really haven't any training method to speak of. "just shadow people, you'll pick it up" doesn't quite count as a method for me.
3. I am *terrified* of being a nuisance or appearing foolish, and I'm a mass of poor coping mechanisms for this gnawing fear. my tendency is to appear to be satisfied with confusing or difficult-to-grasp instruction and hope to muddle through down the line. this is especially bad when I'm being dispatched to an unfamiliar location far removed from anyone I can depend upon for support or correction. I'll go off to try to sort it out myself then be forced to retreat, too baffled to continue.
@kara_dreamer i can relate to a lot of this. learning on the job is hard :(
@kara_dreamer You really have to learn the ability to say you didn't understand without feeling like a useless idiot. I am going through that at the moment and it's hard as hell. Sometimes just asking about something related might help, and it's also a good idea to try to recap what you have just been told by going through all the logical steps and let your coworker point out things you missed or got wrong. You are new on the job, no one will expect perfection. Don't stress :)
@kara_dreamer If you get a rushed explanation from "it's really easy"-coworkers (ughh!!) just say they weren't clear enough. After a few times they might realize that they suck at explaining. It's not your fault that you don't understand things if they are poor communicators. Explaining complex things in a clear way is really difficult, but everyone wins if they learn to do it properly.
@kara_dreamer that's a really crappy way to teach people...