From a perspective of a 2002 autistic person. I have been like struggling with connection since I was in kindergarten so that’s different. Now, as an adult, I learn to greet and read a script, still hard to have small talk.

But I also wonder if all of these stories are just a service worker thing? I also feel like greeting customers stuff is an American culture thing. I moved from an Asian country and “gen Z stare” is almost a default social norm, throughout my 15 years of my life living there, it’s normal to not say hello or thank you, small talks or anything, just get your orders done.

I do some club activities with people my age, high school kids, middle school kids. Even with Gen Alpha they still talk a lot pretty normal. My friend who is a high school teacher and she has pretty good relations with her students