u/Extra-Blueberry-4320

I have been at my new job for a little more than a year now. The company is full of people who have worked here forever: 15 years or more is normal. It’s a very niche industry so it takes a long time to get to know the process of how things are done and whatnot. I feel very left out—these people hang out after work together, their kids are friends with each other, they coach the town’s little league so they know all the other dads at work, etc. I don’t have kids and I prefer to keep work life separate from my home life.

I realized that it’s making me somewhat of a pariah at work. I get it, I’m weird. I’m autistic and I tend to focus on things and not people. I don’t know what to do—I feel like they are trying to get me to quit by purposefully excluding me from things. I will stick it out because maybe they will eventually accept me. I think maybe they still think of me as super new and not knowing anything. I’m not sure what to do other than start looking elsewhere for a job.

What have been your experiences working at a company where everyone is friends outside of work?

I switched jobs last year and had to reset up my 401(k) at the new job. Well. Something wonky happened to the contributions at my former employer and I wound up contributing more than the max allowed. I had to call the 401(k) company and explain what happened. They didn’t seem to know what to do since I didn’t catch it until tax day.

I had to have this conversation during the day and I work in a lab with other employees. I’m sure they all heard me explain to the guy that I accidentally put an extra $8k in a 401(k) account and it got very awkward after that. I’m one of those people who maxes out retirement because I’m retiring early.

I got a lot of really awful things said about me to my boss and he’s telling me I’m creating a hostile environment in the workplace. So yeaaaaahhh.

TL;DR: I had a private conversation in a public space about money and now work is super awkward.