Social Anxiety on the Job

Ok. I have extreme social anxiety. However, I can attend college, as it has always been my safe zone and can function at school really well. But outside of school I don't like going anywhere.
I just got hired at a retail store. I worked at one before (2 years ago) for 3 months in a bigger city. Every day I went to worked I bawled for hours before going. Once I got in the doors I could control myself but inside I was constantly panicking.
Now that I'm working again Im scared of this. I panicked today before going into orientation. Debating and fighting with myself all day long on whether I should go or not. I am on 2 different anxiety meds, and I'm in therapy. People say "If you just force yourself to do it it will get easier" but for me it doesn't. When I worked before it NEVER got better.
What else can I do to help calm this extreme anxiety so that I can do ok at work and not curl up like a child and bawl?
Thanks.

> What else can I do to help calm this extreme anxiety...

This won't be easy: start very early. Take one step at a time. Take the first step and examine it. Is it OK? Tolerable? Wait a while. If it's tolerable, try step 2. Is it OK? Examine it. Is it tolerable? If not, wait. Wait some more.

Maybe you can try step 3.

My anxiety isn't as bad as yours, but for the first month of my retail job, I just had to leave very early in the morning so I'd have enough time to drive sloooowly to work and to sit and breathe for a while before I went in. After about a month, the anxiety lessened and I had a much easier time. It was still a really stressful and exhausting job, but I did manage to work a full year at Macy's, and my managers were very forgiving of my occasional lateness.

My REAL problem was that the job made me really tired, and I had a big fear of driving at the time. So I'd be totally worn out at the end of the day, sometimes shaking from all the stress, and then I'd have to DRIVE HOME. O.o Not fun, and this lasted way longer than my pre-work jitters. Eventually I started bringing a CD player, a book, and my Nintendo with me, and after work I had a three step system:
1) Listen to music until I'm calm enough to play video games
2) Play video games until I'm calm enough to read
3) Read until I'm calm enough to drive

It worked REALLY WELL. So maybe you could take some "security blankets" like that with you? Like if drawing or listening to music makes you feel calmer, you could do that before going in? I don't know. Like I said your anxiety is a lot worse than mine. But it couldn't hurt?

EDIT: And I just thought of something! I also actually WROTE DOWN a sort of "script" of what to say to customers. Like, "If the customer says [whatever], I will say [something appropriate]." It was so fake, but a big part of my social anxiety is worrying that I won't know what to say, so that helped a lot! And believe it or not, I actually got lots of praise for my excellent customer service!! lol

Thank you both for your advice!
I've gone in 3 days now and am doing fairly well.

Stormy, first, I hope you feel as proud of your accomplishment as I am happy for you. Way to go! I do not suffer anxiety to nearly the degree you describe, but I suspect that if I did, I don't think I could do what you have done. Keep it up. We don't know each other at all, but I think you deserve a pat on the back and I hope it helps you perservere.

Just my 2 cents.