I came here to say this, glad I’m not alone. I’ll pretend to watch as they walk away, then rewind 10 minutes. I’m sure they hate it :)

Same, both points. The 3rd time it gave me a garbage answer, I could ask for what phrasing mistakes or assumptions I may be making leading to the bad output.

Doesn’t make the faces my boss does when asked the same thing.

I’m with you, in a store one ear bud in loud enough to block some stuff out, but one ear free so my hyper-vigilance is appeased. But at work (when allowed) or home, both on.

Even then… Was sitting in a room with 6-7 people and someone remarked I was the only one without a device in my hands.

That is what my ”research" indicated, no phones to be open to conversation, I’d much prefer quiet phone time. :) Somehow always on the wrong side

I’m a mess with family. For work however I inhale through the mouth to fill my lungs, then another sharp intake through the nose, followed by a slow exhale through the mouth like cooling cocoa. The exhale should be long. Repeat 1-3 times until I am calm enough to excuse myself. I practiced this in non-crisis situations so it’s second nature and so I can do it subtly, but it does work “out loud” with a finger held up to hold off questions). Once is usually enough. But being able to say “I’m sorry, I have to step away” or “be right back” in a calm voice, rather than that shaky-voice is clutch.

Then I do something from TIPP (reference below). I recommend having a few ready at hand for various situations. At work, I’ll go run up the stairs ( Intense exercise, ideally this would be longer, but even just a minute or two helps). That or paced breathing, sounds like you already have some of those exercises queued up. Holding an ice cube is a popular one.

(not endorsing anything on this site, just for the TIPP explanation, because I’m bad with acronyms. https://footprintscommunity.org.au/resources/introduction-to-dialectal-behavioural-therapy-the-tipp-skill/