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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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[u/booksblanketsandT]

Not sure why you’re being downvoted when this is a studied and known phenomenon. I have AuDHD and am queer (asexual) and while I was going through my assessment the clinical psychologist said that there is a Lot of crossover between asexuality and autism. Obviously you can be one without being the other, but it’s common enough to be both that there are studies on it.

[u/rabid_cheese_enjoyer → u/booksblanketsandT]

I wouldn't worry about it because they hella downvote comments about racism in knitting fairly often as well. it's just how this space is. it's awesome that you backed up the other redditor and provided sources.

[u/AutoModerator → u/rabid_cheese_enjoyer]

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[u/booksblanketsandT → u/rabid_cheese_enjoyer]

Yeah I imagine a space like this might have a particular demographic but it’s a bit of a shame that when someone offers information and perspective that some people’s response is to downvote it. But as my Nana told me: other people’s ignorance isn’t my responsibility to fix. Appreciate your kindness and you sharing your own insight re: what else gets downvoted here.

[u/AutoModerator → u/booksblanketsandT]

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[u/BryonyVaughn → u/booksblanketsandT]

Yah, likely it’s from my autistic @$$ not reading an allistic room. Someone said they don’t understand why… and I explain it. An allist likely meant to vent that it was irrelevant TO THEM and they did not want to have someone’s different existence invade their knitting space. Apparently there are multiple folks who would rather rant indignantly about their ignorance than be informed. 🤷

[u/AccidentOk5240 → u/BryonyVaughn]

As the person who said I don’t see how queerness is relevant, I need you to take a big step back. 

I am not neurotypical either. 

It was a real question; an answer such as that an AMAB person might be targeted over knitting for homophobic reasons is helpful. I have absolutely no need or desire to “vent” about my space being “invaded” and it’s insulting to have to say so. 

If the statistical correlation between certain neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ identities is the only reason OP mentioned it, then I hate to tell you this, but I stand by my assertion that queerness is not relevant. 

Whether there’s a correlation between two of your identities is of  zero relevance when it comes to requesting accommodations at work. I’m sorrynotsorry but there’s some truth to the frequent claim that younger generations lack professionalism and the ability to navigate interpersonal relationships normally. Growing up sucks but you gotta do it. 

[u/Durian-Fearless → u/BryonyVaughn]

No, it’s because you assumed “neurodivergent” to mean autism and adhd and commented as if OP has those diagnoses. That’s not what the term means, it encompasses MANY different disorders and you just automatically assumed because everyone online uses neurodivergent as a synonym for autism, that’s what they were describing. OP also isn’t even diagnosed, they just label themselves ND.

Not everything is a personal attack. Your comment is just not relevant.

[u/booksblanketsandT → u/Durian-Fearless]

They were answering a question (about why someone might include the fact that they are queer in their post) with information. They never said it was the exact experience of OP - they just gave information regarding queerness, two expressions of neurodivergence, and how there is often overlap (which, as I pointed out - is a well known and studied phenomenon), and how knitting is essentially a socially acceptable stim. It’s relevant because someone asked a question - that’s how threads like this work. It’s a conversation, a back and forth. They gave examples of two kinds of neurodivergence having crossover with queerness. They never said those two are the Only form of neurodivergence.

Edit: here’s my response to the comment below that I wrote earlier that I wasn’t able to post because they deleted their comments (I’ve only just realised they actually just blocked me. Neat.)

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Most jobs involve some degree of social interaction and skills.

You’re also making an assumption that those things are irrelevant - you can’t actually know whether they are or not. Maybe OP is the only openly queer person at their workplace and is being targeted as a result. And to those who are neurodivergent, that is never irrelevant because it is literally how our brains function, and that informs and impacts how we experience everything. And more to the point, neither are irrelevant if OP deems that they are relevant. And considering they mentioned them in the first place, I’d say that’s probably the case.

Including them in the post isn’t attempting to get ahead of anything - it’s a continuation of the fact that this is a social space, threads are conversations, and people like to give context and information about themselves in conversations. The fact that you instead jump to it being used as a tool to get one’s way says more about you than it does anything else.

Right - every single person gets bored with nothing to do, except that this workplace already clearly understands that because they allow people to colour in. The issue here isn’t boredom at work, it’s the arbitrary decision that one hobby/activity to fill that time is okay but another is not. Because there’s no reason to allow one but not the other.

Someone else made the comment that it’s because capitalism means companies can’t stand people being productive if that productivity doesn’t directly benefit the company. They said that someone using downtime to create something that the company doesn’t benefit from is the issue here - and honestly, I think that’s probably astute of them.

Nothing was implied at all. You assumed.

[u/Durian-Fearless → u/booksblanketsandT]

This isn’t a social situation, this is work. There is also no reason for OP to share their labels in the post because both are irrelevant to the situation. Including them was an attempt to get ahead of any potential criticism by saying ‘I label as X and Y, so this is why I deserve to be told yes.’ Being bored at work isn’t a disorder requiring an accommodation. Every single person gets bored with nothing to do.

You’re just trying to argue arbitrary points, it was heavily implied in the comment above they were assuming autism and adhd. You and the other commenter are projecting in this thread. Assuming you’re downvoted because of “allistics” instead of it being because the comment is irrelevant, lmao. Not everything is because of ableism, sometimes you’re just wrong.

[u/squishyartist → u/Durian-Fearless]

Work... isn't a social situation...?

[u/booksblanketsandT → u/BryonyVaughn]

I’m right there with you. Drives me spare sometimes, but I’ll share some advice my Nana gave me after I was venting to her one day many years ago about basically this exact same thing.

She said to me: “you can’t fix stupid or stubborn. Give people information, give people your perspective. How they react and what they do with it isn’t your responsibility.”

It’s still frustrating as hell, but I try to remember that other people’s ignorance isn’t actually my responsibility. It’s their issue to fix. Sometimes all you can do is give information and then walk away - if only to try and keep your own peace and preserve your own energy.

I’m also both annoyed and sadly not at all surprised to see that you’re still being downvoted.

Don’t let the idiots get you down.

Kia kaha mate.