After being unemployed for a year I finally got a job. Its part time but it is money and plenty of opportunities for extra hours and its really close to were I live. Unfortunately I'm not catching on fast enough. Its in retail and I have to split time between production and helping walk-in customers. My co workers call me out every time I do anything wrong...or even if I happen to do things a different way than they might. I'm too unassertive to put up a fuss though.

I don't like to burden others and I hate asking questions or having others do my work for me. Everytime I do something wrong it takes me back to all the times I was a child and I watched my classmates achieve while I had to get "extra help". I've seriously thought that maybe I'm mentally retarded but my parents were in denial. As a matter of fact, I've been slow to catch on in all the jobs I've had. I try to be pleasant and upbeat but maybe that makes me look even more stupid because people think I don't realize how stupid I am?

Im new at it but its still very upsetting to realize I'm not as awesome as I though I was. I dont like not knowing things but I can't quit. There isn't a lot in the way of downtime to figure things out either. I also wanted to stay at this position for a while but it feels like I'll never get used to it. I'm always scared that when I do things it will turn out wrong which makes me even slower.

How do I cope with being stupid? Its like people close to me don't notice it. I told my dad how hard it is for me on the job and he just didn't see why I would feel like giving up a month in. When my sister worked in retail she did great and she didn't get as flustered as I am. I've always thought I should be as smart as her. She even got a masters degree and she never struggled with things like I have. I barely got my bachelor's degree and almost flunked out several times.

I'll wrap this up...so there are only so many excuses one could make for those who aren't intelligent ( the task is hard, you have to make mistakes, etc ). How can I survive the workforce and this job when I'm not smart?