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What Would YOU Do?

I heard a story at knitting group the other day that I want to share with you guys. It’s a friend-of-a-friend story so I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it’s interesting.

A flight attendant was attending an annual training seminar last year and, being a knitter, she brought her knitting to the training. She proceeded to knit throughout this training. Other attendees were distracted by the knitting and they complained to the powers-that-be. The knitter was asked to stop knitting but she continued to knit in spite of this request.

Last week this same knitter attended this year’s training seminar. She pulled out her knitting once again and knitted through the entire program. She was subsequently fired.

Discuss.

This Post Has 80 Comments

  1. They obviously aren’t knitters. They probably thought that she wasn’t paying attention; which all of us knitters know, is just silly. It’s easy to knit and still listen and pay attention. But her bosses just thought that she was continually disobeying them. It does seem rather extreme though. Of course, if the lady was asked to stop, why didn’t she? Common courtesy would be to put it away when asked, right?

  2. I think common courtesy as stated above should have been the motivating factor for the attendent putting her knitting away……obviously it was distracting enough to the others.

    Hmmm………I was sent to the office in the 10th grade for reading a book during a boring chemistry movie…..

  3. Your employer sets the rules. If they say don’t chew gum, you don’t. If they say no food in meetings, there is none. And if you’ve been told you are distracting others, and you carry on, well, you aren’t a “company player”. Sorry, Charlie.

  4. I think the old “you can’t really be listening if you’re knitting” isn’t really relevant here; that wasn’t the complaint. If she knew she was disturbing her fellow attendees by knitting (or by doing anything else voluntarily), she should have stopped. Not only was she discourteous, she was wasting her employer’s money by keeping others from being properly trained. (And, if this was an airline, this could have safety repercussions as well.)

  5. I wonder if there are other things going on here. She must not have put her knitting away for a particular reason, other than her burning love for the craft. Then to be fired for not appeasing her supervisor seems rash. It also sounds like there isn’t much communication here. I can’t imagine an environment where a mature conversation can’t help smooth things over. well, I could but i’d like to believe that people are civil to each other.

    I’m very sorry for her that she lost her job but it seems like if she really wanted to keep it, she could have played their game.

  6. IMH, the story is suspect but what everyone said about her doing as the company wished (ordered?) is true. You gotta do the bosses dance.

  7. I sat through 2 hours of b-oring meeting yesterday via conference call (and webex) with 10 other colleagues. I had my knitting in my cube, but didn’t bring it.

    My company pays me to be here 8 hours a day working, not knitting.

  8. If they asked her to stop she should stop. I’d probably fire someone who flagrantly flouted the rules like that. I’d assume she would cause trouble at some point.

  9. She’s a flight attendant and this is training. I’d hate to think that some of the other attendees were so distracted that they couldn’t focus on the safety updates.

  10. I think it sucks that she was fired.

    I do think that she should have used better discretion though after she was told last time not to knit. It was defiant – whether you agree with their rules or not. When on company time, you need to comply.

    Speaking of which – I have to get back to doing payroll!

  11. I knit (with permission of our Director) during our monthly staff meetings…it helps me to concentrate, as I’m sure others feel the same way including this lady.
    Now, I “asked” permission to knit during these meetings to deter any co-workers from complaining, because I KNEW there would be at least one who would complain.
    Maybe she should have asked, and since she didn’t, when asked to stop she should have and discussed it with the trainer/supervisor later.

  12. I say she has to put down the knitting when asked or face the consequences. It was a distraction to others which she was told. But more than that when her employer asked her to stop she didn’t. They may have had concerns about her following the rules that are required of her on the job.

  13. Yes, it sucks that she was fired, but they did ask her to put it away because it was distracting. If she was doing something other than knitting that was distracting, would we even be discussing this?

  14. She totally needs to stop knitting if her employer has asked her to. I know I can knit and pay attention to whats going on in a room, but others don’t think that (even DH who things I’m not watching a show or listening to him if I’m knitting, despite all evidence to the contrary). Also, if others were distracted, thats not cool. Bottom line, if boss doesn’t want you knitting on company time, you don’t knit on company time.

  15. I’d have to go with the employer on this one. She was bothering others, she was asked to stop, she continued. That’s insubordinance.

  16. Wow – a knitter getting fired for not following directions?

    She was asked to stop yet in defiance kept knitting?

    I’d have to agree with the employer – sounds like she forgot that she was the employee.

  17. Hate to say it, but once asked by my employer to stop, I would have stopped. Them’s the rules, and they get to set them. Also, once that expectation has been set by the employer, and it is blatantly disregarded, then well, maybe one more warning would have been appropriate before firing, but in the eyes of the employer it would have looked like she was basically saying “screw you, and your stupid training too”. We all know you can pay attention while knitting (and even knitting can HELP with the attention paying) but there’s reality, and perception, and both are important.

  18. If I were the knitter, I would have been annoyed that my fellow attendees went over my head instead of just asking me to stop, but regardless, I would have stopped when asked. It’s just rude to do otherwise. When attending the second event, what I presume is a year later, I would have asked if the rules had changed and if I could knit, rather than just pulling my knitting out at an event I had been asked specifically not to knit at. My gut feeling is someone with such little regard for others and for management probably had other factors that led to her firing, as firing someone for knitting seems a little severe.

  19. She deserved it. Frankly, I want my flight attendant’s full attention on training. After being asked to stop and told it was a distraction to others, she’s just being rude and selfish and the employer probably felt that would carry over into her general attitude at work.

  20. I’m of multiple minds. On the one hand, like everyone says, you do what The Man says; he writes your check, you dance to his tune. That’s really the bottom line.

    However, I feel sure there must be more to the story. For example, was everyone else there busy texting away on their blackberries and playing Tetris on their laptops? Lord knows I’ve sat in many a meeting where the people around me were doing just that; and those are the meetings to which I eventually started taking my spinning. After the initial surprise wore off and people had asked me what I was doing, they really ignored me. Knitting would have been even less obtrusive. But in other meetings, I couldn’t get away with it, because the folks who ran those meetings were willing to believe homeslice with the laptop wasn’t playing Tetris, but rather was ardently taking notes — whereas I would have been engaging in weird, doesn’t-fit-the-meeting-image, type of behaviour.

    When I rule the world with an iron fist, people will be allowed to knit, crochet, spin, embroider, sew, and so on, pretty much wherever they please. Vote Abby for supreme dictator; that’s the heart and soul of my platform. Sadly, until then, there will always be people who are just not comfortable with it, and from a practical standpoint, if our bosses have said “You can’t do that,” well, we can’t do that.

  21. If it is distracting to other people, you should put it away. If other people think it is distracting to you, they should get over it. Either way, hard to see this as worth firing someone over it.

  22. There’s a time and place for knitting and it’s not in a training seminar. Even though as knitters we know it’s possible to knit and pay attention at the same time, it doesn’t send the right message.

  23. I agree with Lucia. It was not a “you can’t be listening if you’re knitting” situation. It was a “you are disturbing others” situation. If her knitting was distracting others, she shouldn’t have needed to be told to stop; she should have had enough common courtesy to stop. If she didn’t realize she was distracting others on her own, she certainly knew it when she was asked to stop.
    I’m guessing she was probably reprimanded for not stopping at the first training session and therefore, when she blatantly disregarded what she knew to be the rule, firing was not too harsh.
    My feeling is that someone who acted that way probably has a pretty bad work attitude overall.

  24. Ditto! The interesting game to play is to take “knitting” out of the picture. Suppose she were watching a movie on her iPhone. I think we’d all agree, without hesitation that she should have been fired on the spot. Unless it was something really good…….

  25. At a former employer, during team meetings, I began to bring in my knitting. One manager didn’t have a problem with it. When I changed jobs, another one did. He said others found it distracting and complained to him and he personally found it distracting. I never brought my knitting into another meeting. To me, it’s my job, and they get to dictate certain things. With my current employer, I work in a call center and as long as my call quality is good, no one has ever complained about my kntting. Because my team is split in two locations, our team meetings are done by videoconference, so I have not brought in my knitting.

    I think if she was asked/told by her employer to stop knitting, regardless of feelings, she should have stopped.

  26. She was at a company training seminar and didn’t put away her knitting when she was asked to do so – and it sounds like it was at the very least a 2nd strike. I’d say getting canned is what I would expect. You have to bow to ‘dah man’ when you are working, no exceptions (something I’ve been trying to teach the teen…I think we’re making progress).

  27. I have knitted in meetings before but I asked permission first. I agree though that if you are told no or to put it away, work comes first. Knit on your own time.

  28. In addition to what everyone else has said about being on company time (which I agree with) I also feel it’s poor manners. As knitters, we know that we can knit and pay attention at the same time but the non-knitters don’t and that’s the point. If it appears to the speaker that we are uninterested in what they’re saying or not paying attention then we are disrespecting them.

  29. I’m with the majority — and the employer — on this one.

    Chances are if she was this defiant about knitting at this meeting, she had other issues with authority in the workplace, too. It’s rare that such behavior is isolated to one occurrance.

    Frankly, if I was running the first meeting and had pulled her aside and asked her to stop knitting and she then continued anyway, I would have asked her to leave the meeting right then.

    I do have to say, though, that it irritates the heckfire outta me when people complain about something like this to the higher ups instead of politely asking the individual directly to stop doing whatever it is that is irritating/distracting them. But I also know that folks are loathe to be that direct to each other, especially in a business situation where they may only see each other on an annual basis at this meeting.

    But there is no excuse for her to fly in the face of what her employer has told her to do — whether she was knitting, drawing, texting, or even taking notes on a laptop (which can be very distracting to others). The training is for everyone there, not just her, and certain levels of behavior are expected and required.

  30. I had issues with not being allowed to knit at work when I worked in advertising. Other people surfed the net when their work was done.

    But, in a meeting, I can see where it might appear that the knitter is not paying attention, but involved in something else. I often hear about students who knit during lectures. I think if I were the teacher I wouldn’t love that. But I have to say (as much as I don’t want to and encourage public knitting) that during a training session, and seeing as if she was told not to do it, she was in the wrong. She was, after all, at “work”.

  31. I have to agree with the majority here and saying that she is on company time and should not be doing what she is not allowed to do.

    I wish I could do that at my job as I have so much down time. Instead, I surf the web and read knit blogs to look busy.

  32. I think the thing we do tend to miss, as knitters, is that it can be distracting to those around us. Kinda ironic, that: it helps *us* concentrate, but it can prevent others from concentrating. I have on occasion knit during meetings and caught people staring, mesmerized, at my hands. I do think you need to be sensitive to that, and if you’re asked to stop, you should do so.

  33. yeah i have to agree, if she was told not to do it and still did it, then she risked getting the boot. when i used to teach, i had students surfing the web and im-ing each other. i didn’t tell them not to do it, but i wouldn’t have put up with it if they were distracting other students.

    i knit sometimes during class but i’m discrete about it. and i knit on conference calls but no one sees me on those and i know i’m not distracting anyone.

  34. Hmm..there had to have been more to that. I can’t see a woman being fired JUST over knitting during a meeting. At my husbands office, they take their laptops, have darts, mini golf..so on and so forth. I think it’s because it’s so obviously NOT work related. I mean, playing around on your laptop isn’t as obviously not paying attention as knitting.

  35. I am glad to see that the majority of your commenters agree here, because sometimes I get the feeling that we knitters can be inconsiderate in service of our KIP’ping. And since when can’t we offer someone our full, undivided attention? It pissed me off royally if my husband reads the mail while I am talking. Why shouldn’t he or anyone else feel slighted if we insist on knitting all the time, rather than focusing on them?

    I love knitting, but my family and friends feeling like they have my attention is more important.

  36. I’m with the airline on this one. She was on company time, and if the company asked her to put away the knitting, then she had a responsibility to do so. Plus, she was distracting others. There’s something called common courtesy here. Plus, to do it again after being told to stop once would justify a firing, IMO. Isn’t that just a wee childish? If I were the supervisor, she would have been out the door.

  37. I’m with the company too. It would be one thing if they’d just canned her without notice, but it’s quite another if she was asked to stop and didn’t. I’m surprised they didn’t fire her after that, and gave her another chance. Heck, I can do my job wearing jeans, but the company says no jeans (even though I do not meet with clients) so no jeans for me.

  38. Couple things, the “distracted” should have said something to the knitter. The knitter should have shown respect when it was requested that she put it away.
    It seems like were just some bitter people in the whole group, the knitter, the coworkers, everyone.
    I think they all should have taken a deep breath, and then they should have followed company protocol without issue.

  39. I don’t believe that story for even five seconds. You can’t fire people without warnings, and airlines have to be among the most knowledgeable about hiring/firing policies regarding flight attendants–they’ve certainly been sued often enough in the past for things like age and weight and gender requirements.

    That said, I think it is simply a matter of common courtesy to put away your knitting if it distracts someone (per the story), or if it is perceived as disrespectful (as happens sometimes with professors, judges, speakers).

  40. I agree that if she is “on company time” and they ask her to stop knitting, then she should do so. There are so many times at work when I am at a meeting where it would be perfect knitting time, but I don’t pull out the needles because I know it would be frowned upon. Not because it’s distracting, but because the people I work with would never understand that I can knit a simple stockinette sock and pay attention/process what is going on around me. And since I am getting paid to be there, I need to respect that (I don’t like it, but I need to respect it). I have knit in my office when I am on a telcon and was actually told by someone to bring my knitting when I was meeting in his office for a telcon. He really made my day!!

  41. I’m surprised she wasn’t fired LAST year.

    It isn’t about knitting, it’s about following the rules and doing as the powers-that-be ask. We don’t always agree, but whatcha gonna do? What’s more important, knitting a sock or getting a paycheck (or whatever else is in the balance).

  42. My SIL, the librarian, had a similar situation. She knit in meetings and somebody got mad at her (she speculated because she was getting something done while the complainer just had to listen to the stuffy library director) and complained to the higher-ups and they asked her to put it away, which she did. Because, as has been said, your are under the influence of the employer.

  43. I agree with the others … when you work for someone else you have to play by their rules.

    I do think, however, that there is more to this story (if true) than we’ve been given. She’s a flight attendant … doesn’t that mean she’s in a union? Which would make firing her more difficult? This is probably not the first time her boss has had an issue with her performance on the job.

  44. That’s just rude, selfish and lacking in any common sense. How hard is it to sit through training and actually pay attention? It can’t be that hard when the powers that be expect everyone to do exactly that.

    I’m guessing she was one of those people with a sense of entitlement who felt she had a ‘right’ to knit rather than do as management wanted and she deserved to be fired. There is a time and place for everything. Knitting is not a revolution. It’s a spare time off the clock hobby.

  45. It sucks to be fired over something like that, but she was on company time, so I agree with everyone else, she should have played by their rules. No fun, but a paycheck is far more important that knitting through a seminar.

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