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AngryOldDem

(14,180 posts)

64. I knew when I started the test that I would be classified as an HSP.

Fri Feb 6, 2015, 07:46 AM

Feb 2015

After the first couple questions, I knew where the survey was going.

And thanks to my job, and my workplace, my life is a living hell right now. The office is dysfunctional, I never know from one day to the next what the climate is going to be, I have to turn around complicated documents in literally minutes (and they have to be perfect), and deal with difficult people.

Add to that work days that are often six days long, 12 hours or more. My anxiety and stress are off the charts. I started seeing a psychiatrist to find ways to deal with the stress, and after I described to her a typical workday, her eyes got wide and she asked, "What do you do to relax?" I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or scream at that question. That was exactly WHY I was seeing her, FFS.

I can't do much right now but work, and hope I didn't make some kind of monumental mistake along the line. It is no way to live.

A band-aid approach I take is plugging into my iPods (music and podcasts, usually comedies) and trying to pick and choose my battles, both with the work and the people. But that isn't always possible. I half-joke when I say my job is going to kill me.

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Highlight:

How Does a Highly Sensitive Person Survive the Hell of the American Workplace? [View all] xchrom Feb 2015 OP

hell is the right word. it's why I've hated work my entire life magical thyme Feb 2015 #1

Early in my career I worked in a cubicle. meaculpa2011 Feb 2015 #11

Hahaha, I am a sometimes writer and worked as a copy writer in an open floor plan office so I relate btrflykng9 Feb 2015 #25

flossing their teeth?!? I hope you are making that part up!!!! magical thyme Feb 2015 #27

Oh that I were... Sadly, it really did happen, every day after lunch. btrflykng9 Feb 2015 #33

I took the test Art_from_Ark Feb 2015 #2

and on top of it all, they usually pay sh*t wages....... a kennedy Feb 2015 #3

My mother and Marcel Proust were the most highly sensitive people ever. betsuni Feb 2015 #4

OMG pipi_k Feb 2015 #10

Birds are so distracting! I sit in a cubicle about 50 feet from a window and there btrflykng9 Feb 2015 #26

Add crowds and lines to that store, and I'd sooner starve than enter. arcane1 Feb 2015 #31

Oh Boy. Crowds in stores. Like writhing blind worms with everywhere to go. Standing in line but... BlueJazz Feb 2015 #107

Ugh! I hate fluorescent lights. I always tried to have the bulbs unscrewed or smirkymonkey Feb 2015 #42

imagine if a sensitive person like you were forced of necessity to work in an amazon warehouse ND-Dem Feb 2015 #60

I'm reading this on my Kindle wondering if I should smash giftedgirl77 Feb 2015 #76

God & nature have some way to look out for them since many thrive in very different appalachiablue Feb 2015 #90

Most people don't want to destroy their health for $11 an hour, no benefits, and no UE insurance ND-Dem Feb 2015 #93

A few points pipi_k Feb 2015 #110

well i just hope it didn't have fluorescent lights! I'd hate to think you had to go to work "near ND-Dem Feb 2015 #111

sigh... pipi_k Feb 2015 #117

There is truth in what you say. LiberalAndProud Feb 2015 #112

yes, and many more point to this fact as though it were a sign of individual virtue and societal ND-Dem Feb 2015 #120

My wife is highly sensitive to lights, sound, smells; I call her "Roderick Usher" Tom Ripley Feb 2015 #41

Hope she takes that well, with humor. Roderick was a piece of work indeed. appalachiablue Feb 2015 #89

Laboratory One_Life_To_Give Feb 2015 #5

Interesting Sherman A1 Feb 2015 #6

Was it wrong of me to be annoyed that I had to count my answers myself? cyberswede Feb 2015 #7

Indeed! I spent twice the time looking for that button than it took to just count. arcane1 Feb 2015 #101

more psych woo from alternet...are you touchy feeling and really deep, oh how will you make it snooper2 Feb 2015 #8

. Orrex Feb 2015 #15

Maybe you just don't know what it's like . . . Brigid Feb 2015 #23

Without questiong the existence of the HSP personality type... Orrex Feb 2015 #35

I don't know if there will ever be a clinical definition of HSP. Brigid Feb 2015 #38

Honestly that test was really fucking silly RedCappedBandit Feb 2015 #32

"If you score 14 or more, you're probably HSP" Orrex Feb 2015 #36

HSP or... pipi_k Feb 2015 #9

I can't imagine what it's like to not have the problem. nruthie Feb 2015 #13

Same here pipi_k Feb 2015 #18

The more I have a quiet life, the less tolerant I am for noise. dixiegrrrrl Feb 2015 #21

Have you ever noticed pipi_k Feb 2015 #113

the sound of snow...yes!!!!! dixiegrrrrl Feb 2015 #115

Entrancing in seclusion... pipi_k Feb 2015 #119

Same here. smirkymonkey Feb 2015 #43

when I was a kid, I would disappear from family get togethers magical thyme Feb 2015 #14

Oh yeah! pipi_k Feb 2015 #19

yelling screeching and screaming adults are just as bad magical thyme Feb 2015 #20

Hah...true! pipi_k Feb 2015 #118

Energies bother me more than noise adigal Feb 2015 #52

Holy shit, this descripbes me to a T mindwalker_i Feb 2015 #12

I don't know how anyone survives the modern work place. leftyladyfrommo Feb 2015 #16

"And the hours people are working right now are ridiculous." Nuclear Unicorn Feb 2015 #34

yes, compared to eating shit, eating frozen pee is much more appetizing ND-Dem Feb 2015 #61

There, there. Nuclear Unicorn Feb 2015 #63

Luckily, there's always someone to tout the benefit and positive *healthfulness* of frozen pee. ND-Dem Feb 2015 #65

Whatever, man. You're obviously determined to fight to feel special so go feel special. Nuclear Unicorn Feb 2015 #66

nope, just another frozen pee eater trying to avoid the shit ND-Dem Feb 2015 #67

You're hiding behind meaningless statements. "Frozen pee" means nothing. Nuclear Unicorn Feb 2015 #69

does your husband make $11hr; is he searched before lunch (taking part of his non-paid lunch break) ND-Dem Feb 2015 #78

The thread isn't about Amazon. I didn't say there is no such thing as bad working conditions Nuclear Unicorn Feb 2015 #79

and i gave an example of people who have gueling jobs making subsistence livings. i'd bet that ND-Dem Feb 2015 #80

How does that square with either the OP or the sub-thread I replied to? Nuclear Unicorn Feb 2015 #81

please reread your own responses to post 16, starting with your post 34. ND-Dem Feb 2015 #82

Okay. And? Nuclear Unicorn Feb 2015 #84

you're asking the amazon workers to be grateful they only have to eat frozen pee. One wonders ND-Dem Feb 2015 #88

Again, I, the OP and my orignial interlocutor are not addressing workers for Amazon. Nuclear Unicorn Feb 2015 #92

Been there...surface and underground....every type of weather. ileus Feb 2015 #121

Lover Boy says he appreciates the fact the work is "uncomplicated." Nuclear Unicorn Feb 2015 #122

"Oh no, there was light an' noise an' stuff! And I was there for a little over eight hours!" Codeine Feb 2015 #70

I work nights, in a job I can often do solo Skittles Feb 2015 #17

And I thought it was just me. Brigid Feb 2015 #22

How? With headphones/earbuds kentauros Feb 2015 #24

I am dx'd Aspergers and some of those things hifiguy Feb 2015 #28

Cubicle farms/open plan offices are bad for everyone alarimer Feb 2015 #29

Sounds like me. arcane1 Feb 2015 #30

Absent actual legitimate sensory integration disorders, they suck it up. n/t lumberjack_jeff Feb 2015 #37

I just finished reading "Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking" Prism Feb 2015 #39

I just finished reading that book as well. smirkymonkey Feb 2015 #44

I really liked the author's sense of balance Prism Feb 2015 #57

Excellent book esp. distinctions between intros & extros. Wish it was around decades ago. appalachiablue Feb 2015 #47

So very much talking! Prism Feb 2015 #58

I have to read this...I had all sorts of twitches growing up adigal Feb 2015 #53

Here's a quick article on Kagan Prism Feb 2015 #56

I felt so vindicated after reading that book. likesmountains 52 Feb 2015 #77

Thanks I'll look for it. stage left Feb 2015 #86

It also has some solid coping strategies Prism Feb 2015 #94

That sounds really great! stage left Feb 2015 #103

Xanax Tom Ripley Feb 2015 #40

Meditation and exercise work better for me nt adigal Feb 2015 #54

They also work well for me Tom Ripley Feb 2015 #75

Working for a living is a highly overrated pastime with few redeeming features. Tierra_y_Libertad Feb 2015 #45

I'm not HSP and open cubicles infuriate me Taitertots Feb 2015 #46

You get used to it bhikkhu Feb 2015 #48

Sounds like HSP's are quite similar to introverts. killbotfactory Feb 2015 #49

Overly intelligent people are often overly sensitive (nt) Samantha Feb 2015 #50

I'm a HSP and a teacher and I love the kids but the new bureaucracy, criticism, adigal Feb 2015 #51

I sought out jobs where I could work independently, with minimal interaction Ex Lurker Feb 2015 #55

I'm so glad to be retired. My husband and I test almost exactly the same for HSP, but his niche .... Hekate Feb 2015 #59

My IPod is my friend. I plug in and the cube farm disappears... ms liberty Feb 2015 #62

I knew when I started the test that I would be classified as an HSP. AngryOldDem Feb 2015 #64

The test is designed to reach that conclusion. It's about validation and special snowflake-ism, Codeine Feb 2015 #71

Physically, I am a sensory mess. Emotionally, I am zen... Phentex Feb 2015 #68

Short version: "How do the awesomest awesome people put up with all the morons?" alcibiades_mystery Feb 2015 #72

What do they mean "today's work environment"? FLPanhandle Feb 2015 #73

What's missing from the old pictures? Phones, keyboards, printers, all manner of other noisy shit. Gidney N Cloyd Feb 2015 #95

Also missing - fans, a/c, elevators, fire equipment, cafeterias, refrigeration, automobiles, appalachiablue Feb 2015 #96

Point taken but I think the thread is focusing on noise and distractions in open workspaces. Gidney N Cloyd Feb 2015 #99

This section focuses on noise issues true, but up thread folks mentioned other things they appalachiablue Feb 2015 #105

What about typewriters FLPanhandle Feb 2015 #97

Those would be noisy but I don't see any in the pictures you posted. Gidney N Cloyd Feb 2015 #98

Well, they were all around FLPanhandle Feb 2015 #100

I always found pipi_k Feb 2015 #123

We have to kind of insulate and numb ourselves to everything going on around us Blue_Tires Feb 2015 #74

I bet I have this, because I hate meetings. egduj Feb 2015 #83

I didn't know this was a thing. stage left Feb 2015 #85

I was raised by people who either: BubbaFett Feb 2015 #87

Practical, sensible, healthy & hardy, not over sensitive- all why you've made it & will continue appalachiablue Feb 2015 #109

One Word RobinA Feb 2015 #91

I, by and large, got along ok with my co-workers but I never could manage to suck up to the bosses. Peregrine Took Feb 2015 #102

It may come as a surprise to some here, SheilaT Feb 2015 #104

Every person has issues but I agree about few quiet, crowd free & stress free job settings. appalachiablue Feb 2015 #108

I love watching the few crybaby in this thread over not being special. Rex Feb 2015 #106

What's not to love? LiberalAndProud Feb 2015 #114

Today's timely Doonesbury: Gidney N Cloyd Feb 2015 #116