 Lights up on a modern open concept office. Bright lights and office chatter fill the space. Joshua waits at a common space table. Erin rushes in and sits at the table. She dabs a mustard stain on her shirt with a damp paper towel. I'm gonna keep you waiting. I should never schedule an interview right after lunch. Your shirt is stained. I know. I got one of those overstuffed deli sandwiches drenched in mustard. What kind? A sandwich? Mustard. I don't know, regular? Yellow? I guess. Leo's regular mustard. Right. This is most popular. Then Dijon, honey, spicy brown. You know you're mustard. You should really add that to your resume, which I now realize is on my laptop, my laptop that I left in my car. I'm so sorry. I'll just go grab it. I printed copies. Look at that, a printed resume. This office doesn't even have a printer. I have a printer, HP Office Step Pro, and print up to 2,400 pages per cartridge. Wow. If you get the job, can you bring your printer to the office? Suddenly the light shift. Joshua stands. She doesn't really want my printer. I'm sure she's just joking, but Joe should be funny, and that wasn't funny. What do you say to an unfunny joke? Six weeks of job training classes, and the trainer never mentioned this. What would she say? Trainer Andy Strides in. She's nothing but positivity and enthusiasm. I would say, respond to every question. Yes, I know. I have to respond, but how to respond is the problem. We'll think back on our interview prep class. I must have mentioned something about jokes. You did not mention jokes, not once. Well, then I must have said something else that applies like, oh, eye contact. Make eye contact. Make eye contact, and then what? Just stare at her. Right. That would be creepy. What else? Speak clearly. Can't speak, but I don't know what to say. What about, what about always shower before an interview? I only had the interview. So you showered? No, but that's not really the issue right now. I got it. If you become confused, focus on the things you understand. So what are you sure of? A light shift back. That was a joke. Yes, it was. Well, anyway, your resume looks good. You studied computer science at ASU. What would you say is the most important thing you learned? Your science. No, yeah, but I mean, more generally, what did you learn? When I studied computer science, what did I learn that wasn't computer science? Yeah, I guess that's what I'm asking. The light shift. Trainer Andy steps back in. What am I supposed to say? I've learned computer science. That's what I learned. I know, I know. Tell me what you learned, but don't say the thing that you learned it makes no sense. We talked about this. We did not talk about this. Remember, we discussed how everything we do teaches us more than just one thing and you shared your experience of the summer you helped your uncle renovate his house. You learned obvious things like how to hammer and how to paint, but that's not all it taught you. Yeah, I learned the bus route gets to his house. Exactly, you learned to ride the bus. You learned to set two alarms so you didn't oversleep and you learned to eat a big breakfast otherwise you got angry right before lunch. I punched a wall. To be fair, your uncle punched a few walls too, but before that summer, you didn't know how to ride the bus or that you overslept without two alarms or that you definitely, definitely needed two bowls of cereal. So what skills other than computer science did you learn while you were in college? The light shift back to the interview. My course load was aggressive, especially in my theory and programming classes. So I learned how to study and I understand concepts quickly. Perfect. The hardest part about bringing a new person onto the technical support team is teaching them the software. So if you can learn the system fast, then that's a big advantage. Great answer. Great answer. I give great answers. You are crushing this interview. I am the most employable man that has ever lived. I'm gonna have a job, a full-time job. Where am I so much? Like, one of those gaming chairs with stitched leather and speakers straight in the headrest. And I'm never fucking again. Take out dinners every night of the week. Those are terrible ideas, but I love the enthusiasm. Oh, she's saying something. Pay attention. It looks like you have previous experience on a software support team. What were your responsibilities at your last job? I mainly worked with software engineers to resolve bug tickets, which I liked a lot. You like resolving bug tickets? You like resolving bug tickets? No one likes bug tickets. Bug tickets are puzzles. I like puzzles. And I like engineers. They don't like small talking. I don't like small talk, so we don't have small talk. We all like it. You're right about engineers. At Team Happy Hours, I tell jokes and their faces are like... Well, exactly like that. Do you know exactly approximately how many support tickets you were able to resolve a day? Forty. Forty? If you resolved 40 tickets a day, you'd be closing roughly double what we expect per day from our support team members. Well, I could slow down if you wanted, but I get really focused, and I get to take lunch breaks. My old manager, Derek, said it was fantastic, but illegal. But I should keep doing it unless someone from the government asked me about it. So if I called Derek, he would confirm you closed 40 tickets a day? Yes, he would confirm I closed 40 tickets a day because closed 40 tickets a day, but he might also tell you not to hire me. Why would Derek say that? He didn't like me. Okay, I'm getting a little nervous. Why didn't he help you? He has to find out sometime. Because I'm on the autism spectrum. Oh, really? Light shift, but this time we stay with Erin. Okay, no big deal. You've met people with autism, right? Oh my God, I've never met anyone with autism. What do you think is the autism spectrum? They must have covered this in that video training with a smiley HR lady. Oh, what was her name? Becky Ruth? Hi there, I'm Becky Ruth, your human resources representative. What's your name, really, Becky Ruth? No, but that's okay. Was it Becky? Nope. Ruth? Listen, you could guess my name all day, but you've got a young man sitting here who just told you something very personal and he needs a response. So what's the plan here? I don't know. This is literally my first interview as a manager. I am not equipped for this. God, I'm so sweaty. I may have the stupid mustard stain. I wanna rip this shirt off. Okay, as your HR representative, I'm advising you to keep your shirt on during this interview. What do I do, Becky? First, breathe. He's an autistic adult, not a wild tiger. He won't hurt you. Second, people with different needs have a simple request, that their differences be acknowledged, accommodated when necessary, and otherwise that they'd be treated with the same respect you would offer anyone else. Can you handle this? Yeah, I think so. Great. I'll email you my notes from this meeting so we both have a copy. Bye now. The lights shift back. I see. Thank you for telling me. Are there any adjustments that would be helpful for you? No. It's very loud in this office. I know, it's the open floor plan. It feels like we're all crowded in one giant room, but at least there's a ton of natural light. It hurts my eyes. Oh. If it's too bright, is it okay if I wear sunglasses? Sure, yeah, not a problem. And I have nice, canceling headphones that help me work. Of course, you're welcome to wear them. This is a really progressive company. Actually, we've been looking to be more inclusive with our hiring, so this is great. How awesome is this? I think she is going to make you an offer. What's wrong? She's only hiring me because I have autism. Oh, that's not what she said. She said they need to look more inclusive, so I'm a perfect hire. She didn't mean it that way. Just ignore it. I can't ignore it. I'm tired of ignoring it. Either I can't find a job because of my diagnosis or I get pity-hired because of it. I'm not a novelty. I'm not an oddity. I'm a person, a real person who is applying for a job that I'm highly qualified for. I have to say something to her. Are you sure about this? And seriously, this company is so great. I've always felt like they just really know how to make you feel welcome and... I don't want to be rude, but I can't work here. I'm sorry. If you're only hiring me to hit some inclusivity quota, I don't want it. I know you mean well, but if you don't think I'm right for this job, based on my resume, don't give it to me. Thank you, Ruth. I thought we figured this out. I said something stupid. You did. I don't feel like an ass. Well, what do I do? First, go back and watch the training video and don't be on your phone this time. Second, you already know what to do. You said something stupid. People do it all the time. Own up to it, apologize and move on. I really don't think you need me to tell you any of this. Light shift back to normal. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound like you would only be hired because of any reason beyond your experience. For the record, I think you'd be great for the job, but I do have a few more questions about your resume. Should we keep going? Yes, I'd like to keep going. Lockout, end of plagues.