Odd subject on my mind today.
I am a crafter. Give me needle and thread and fabric and I am entertained for hours.
At my last agency, even though we were very large and very very busy, many of us sat at our telephone consoles (not while we were on radio) and worked on various crafts, short of using a sewing machine for a couple.
It was an accepted method for stress relief.
But at my current small agency.... well.... not so much.
On the graveyard shift you can go a whole hour (have even gone two) without a single radio transmission or phone call. On a Sunday it is the same pace. And yet....
Reading a book, okay.
Working on personal business, seems okay.
But pull out some fabric and thread and it is armageddon.
I understand during business hours, or even if the brass is in the station, that the activity would be considered a no-no. BUT.....
I know a certain senior officer who has told me they consider the activity an insult and would like to craft policy against the activity in dispatch, but as I am the only crafter, it would clearly be directed at me and thus open up the possibility of, well, more **it than worth the issue. At this time.
My former agency only had the policy of no crafting of any sort while working radio. They also had issues with reading of any kind except the policy manual. But off radio, as long as you weren't stinking up the place or making too much noise, all was acceptable.
How does your agency handle this stress relieving, soul feeding, extracurricular activity?
