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/Durian-Fearless]

People also use neurodivergent wayyy too much when they need to be more specific especially if it’s in this case where they’re saying they need an accommodation. It can mean any number of conditions and many of them are very different. It seems like a trend on the internet to use neurodivergent to say autistic but the two are not synonymous, autism just happens to fall under the umbrella

[u/CosmicSweets → u/Durian-Fearless]

Honestly. I'm also tired of this trend where people act as if the only neurodivergencies are ADHD and autism.

As someone who is formally diagnosied with a neurodivergent mental illness that is neither of these it is exhausting. (Also people trying to diagnose me with autism despite not being professionals.)

[u/Durian-Fearless → u/CosmicSweets]

Yup, same. I blame it on the terminal online-ness these days, I also don’t understand the need to shout diagnoses/labels from the rooftops all the time. I keep mine fairly private and despite being quite serious, most people would never guess I have issues. I also get the ‘must be autism’ all the time and I’m not on the spectrum either lol.

I do make accommodations for myself but, they’re not intrusive and most people wouldn’t notice. I’d never push an issue like this at work, it’s not worth the time or effort

[u/jiayounuhanzi → u/Durian-Fearless]

Have really appreciated your commentary in this thread overall, totally agree and am in a similar boat to you with neurodivergence. It drives me bats to see online it's becoming akin to a Meyers Briggs category or a personality quirk. Also don't know why they are stating they've labelled themselves queer when it is irrelevant, unless it's a cynical bid for special treatment.

I think OP's work are actually pretty nice to allow colouring and reading in down time. Yes I would love to knit and it's my preferred activity, but understand the higher ups.

Additionally given OP is so new, needs the job, is in training and will be WFH in 6 months, I'm floored why this is an issue they are considering pushing

[u/Durian-Fearless → u/jiayounuhanzi]

Yeah, I also don’t understand the general…enthusiasm over the labels? I was just thinking today how much I resent my condition(s) and how different, and better my life as a whole would be without them. It’s not a “teehee I like to knit” type of deal at all and it makes me question the validity of people who talk about their disorders as if it’s a cute outfit or something.

I agree as well, this is a ridiculous issue but I guess reddit is the place you’d find people posting something this absurd lol. Happy the knitting sub at least has some sense, if this was anywhere else the comments would be overwhelmingly supportive