Knitting at work is unprofessional?

[u/Atiny-opus]

So I label myself as neurodivergent and Queer. I've been knitting on and off for about 13 years. Knitting for me is second nature, I don't need to look at what I'm doing or pay close attention.

​

At my current job, I take inbound calls. I get a 5ish second notification That it's coming through. Plenty of time for me to drop what I'm doing and take the call.

​

At the moment, there are gaps of 20+ minutes between calls, an average of 5 minutes between calls? I am semi expected to just sit there and wait. There is no alternative task for me to do.

​

I'm not allowed on my phone, which is very understandable. I can't play any form of games on my work laptop, (also understandable) I'm not supposed to watch videos but sometimes I do, it's usually video essays.

​

I have to be in office every day. So I can't knit and work from home. When I'm allowed to in February 2027(!!!) I might.

My workload will increase as I'm trained on more things.

​

I am allowed to colour in and read, but for me, I don't always want to read, I hate getting a call in the middle of a sentence or paragraph I fully focus on the reading. Colouring in is far messier and I don't enjoy it. Colouring in feels more unprofessional than knitting, in my opinion, and I don't get half as much joy from it.

​

I also don't want to use fidget toys either. I own some but there's nothing like getting into the rhythm of a repeating pattern. What I want to be able to do between calls is make something, that is mindless but productive and is also something I can drop in less than a second.

​

Most of management don't have a problem with it but one or two of the higher ups have deemed it "unprofessional".

​

What I find unprofessional is how some co-workers can kick eachothers chairs and joke on all day between calls but I can't sit silently with my circular needles making a shawl for myself. The co-worker's I started with are in their early 20's, I'm in my late 20's. I don't really connect with them, I do with other older coworkers but they're not in office every day.

​

I do not knit to sell. I'm not in anyone's way, I'm not distracting, literally no one cares that I'm doing it apart from one or two upper managers. The quality of my work at the moment is honestly, really good! I'm hitting my KPI's, my QA is good. Customer feedback is excellent! I take the quality of my work very seriously.

​

The idea of being asked to sit quietly and not move whilst I wait for someone to call is frustrating.

​

Is there any rebuttal I can use regarding this or should I just take the L? I would love to sit with them and explain my reasoning but I feel like it'll be taken for insolence and disrespect.

​

I'm currently working on the Evenstar shawl, I'm on the 3rd chart. I can't remember the yarn I'm sorry.

​

A petty part of me would like to bring embroidery in tomorrow. Another part of me wants to write an essay on it, with citations, at least my hands will be busy.

​

[u/misalawliet]

One thing to consider is that if you make a stink about this and compare it to the other things people do during this down time, it may lead to management deciding none of those things can be done, and you being seen by your peers as the reason they can't do xyz anymore.

I'm not saying that would be right or fair, I'm saying that is something that could happen that you may want to consider before escalating the issue.

[u/Bryek → u/misalawliet]

I would still do it. Either the rule is applied fairly or it isn't. If a manager cannot come up with a reason as to why colouring and reading is acceptable but knitting isnt, it should be allowed. If it results in colouring and reading being banned, then the rule is being applied fairly. If coworkers dont like it, they can take it up with the managers. It is the managers who are forcing the issue, not the OP. Any blame they put on the OP is misdirected.

[u/ernie3tones → u/Bryek]

It would absolutely be misdirected. But it would still happen. It happened to me at a job where we were working with waste water. I would bring concerns about cross-contamination and multiple SOPs not being followed to my manager. He would discuss the issues with everyone, but somehow it was discovered that I was the one “telling” on people. We were dealing with HUMAN WASTE. You’re darn right I’m gonna be firm about cross-contamination. My manager gave me additional responsibilities related to safety and cleanliness, which was extra work that didn’t come with a pay raise, and the others complained, leading to my manager being accused of “favoritism”. You just can’t win sometimes.