Honest to a Fault
Tony Attwood in his first book on Asperger (Asperger syndrome) talks about people with AS being "honest to a fault" of being too honest.
Its something that I think certainly applies to me and stems, in part, from my innate way of describing things literally.
Yesterday I had to go into work on a Saturday which is very unusual for me. Afterwards my team leader (I can't really call her my boss given the structure of the department) suggested we went for a drink, along with our other colleague.
The evening lasted longer than expected and we ended up talking about past experiences at work very honestly amongst ourselves.
I was wondering afterwards if we/I should have done this? The three of us get on incredibly well and I don't think that it is the type of environment where there would be a lot of backbiting etc, and we didn't discuss anything contentious, but maybe I should have been a bit more guarded.
I find it a difficult balance to strike: talking about issues that impact personally and not going to much into a shell and becoming distant.
excessive honesty
It doesn't sound as if you've done anything that will harm you, probably the reverse as your colleagues will be likely to feel closer to you after an evening like that.
A good example of the type of honesty that Dr Attwood is talking about would be if someone asked you "Does this dress make me look fat?" You are not supposed to reply "No, it's being three stone overweight that makes you look fat" even if that's the truth. Aspie kids often embarrass their parents with loud, blunt comments on someone's obesity, bad teeth or whatever.
I try not to make this type of mistake but don't always succeed: Last week I let my temper get the better of me due to frustration with a new computer system that hasn't been implemented properly and complained loudly to my boss about "retards" who "should be made to do their [deleted] jobs properly", only to discover that my boss was one of the people doing things the way I was complaining about. He took it quite well but this kind of honest expression of feelings is normally best avoided. Now I've written it down it looks incredibly rude and offensive even to me. Extreme stress is my only excuse.
I don't think that kind of "bad" honesty is what you are talking about here and as long as you haven't expressed negative opinions about your employer or other colleagues you probably have nothing to worry about.
Sometimes I can't seem to
Sometimes I can't seem to help myself in commenting about smells eg. "oh pooh! something stinks in here" or holding my nose if somebody is smoking a very strong cigarette. I seem to have a very sensitive nose and maybe pick on things that others don't.
Unavoidable Honesty
I have just posted how I am caught in the middle at work of some politics at the moment.
I discussed this with another colleague earlier in the week as she felt, as I do, that we are being "played off" slightly between parties.
The conversation then evolved into my honesty as the manager concerned said that she thought I was exceptionally honest and really appreciated and respected me for being so.
I thought afterwards that, perhaps, this was counting against me again. However, I decided that, as there is not much I can do if people play these games so the best thing to do - and which I feel most comfortable with - is simply be myself.
What is also important however, is stating my point and not being being taken advantage of!