To think that if a workplace requires you to wear a poppy they should supply one?

I don't buy one, and haven't done since a poppy seller berated me for not wearing one. I'd explained to him that I'd bought one a couple of days earlier and it was on my other coat, but apparently that wasn't good enough

That's when I realised that the whole thing is about obligation and virtue signalling, and I want nothing of it.

I'm also infuriated by all the posters who refuse to recognise OP 's financial situation. You should all be checking your privilege, frankly.

Based on my personal, and friends', experience of some British soldiers in NI, their behaviour went well beyond "following orders" in terms of their treatment of nationalists and was appalling on a day to day basis. I doubt most of those are suffering any regret or mental torment in relation to that.

Yanbu.
I always lose them within minutes, I don't have a button hole to pop it in. I prefer to donate to save waste.

One conclusion of this thread is that fascism is OK as long as it doesn't cost anything. Or so AI thought.

Yes, appalling. 11 innocent civilians killed in the former, and 26 in the latter. But in the whole horrible, continuing history of conflict there are many who followed orders, killing and maiming, sometimes bad intelligence involved, and suffer ongoing physical and mental torment as a result. The charity supports them. The OP states that she's happy to wear a poppy but doesn't carry cash so I merely provided a practical solution. Others in her workplace will have donated and can pick up more than one poppy however much they put in

A useful charity in your opinion. Any charity that supports the perpetrators of massacres such as Ballymurphy and Bloody Sunday is definitely not one I would consider useful.

You don’t have to justify yourself OP.

FWIW I know exactly what you mean about your GF as mine was just the same. We always thought he was just a nasty cruel old bastard but really it was probably PTSD.

https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/fundraise-for-us/poppy-appeal

When people 'buy' a poppy to support the charity they can take several. Just ask someone on Teams chat get one for you, they haven't bought it, just contributed to a very useful charity, imo, which you're unable to as no cash and don't want to anyway. Wear the poppy so as not to get disciplined, but it may be worth your while looking into what they do and perhaps treat your colleague to a coffee, at least.
Lest we forget...

Yes I claim back on tax return but that’s only the tax paid not the full amount

Exactly this!

And there you have it.

Northern Ireland is on the mainland.

Even though you’ve now bought one op, i would still recommend escalating this.

Why should op be told what to spend her limited money on?
Freedoms were fought for so that people can make their own choices.

Same here.

My dad would turn in his grave if I were to put one on.

I never wore one growing up.

Erin go brah.

If it’s deemed essential by management - they should supply them. Totally understand why the [elderly] customer base may value them, but your employer absolutely cannot impose disciplinary consequences for something that is not set out in your contracts of employment, especially at such short notice.

Perhaps someone in the team [the manager] can take some petty cash and pop to Smith's to buy a dozen of them to distribute?

YANBU - if they require it, they should provide it, preferably with an explanation of how they think requiring it is in line what they think the poppy is about.

I have a red poppy I have from a small local veteran charity that says Never Again that I've been debating whether to wear to work. I probably wouldn't wear it when dealing with service users.

I stopped supporting Royal British Legion some years back when around this time of year they thought it was appropriate to put children in shirts with 'Future Soldier' on them. That's not remembrance, that's not helping veterans.

Am astonished at all the politicising and posturing about personal views.
The poppy is a symbol of remembrance, not a demonstration of your standpoint on war or the army or freedom or democracy.

Poppies were political before WW2, first politicised by WW1 veterans and widows giving their very negative opinion on wars and the government's recklessness in war and in the treatment of those after.

Moving from Never Again to Lest We Forget is also a political and ideological move. That the remembrance for WW1 and WW2 is solely on the military, and erases the many other groups involved including conscientious objectors who sat on rooftops in cities to watch out for bombers and fires, at great risk to themselves, to be able to warn and be part of fire fighting and rubble clearing work that rescued and saved countless lives is a political and ideological choice.

We live post war and conflict free and we are asked to remember that some people died in achieving just that.

We are far from conflict free and have only been 'post war' by a technicality for a few years because the US decided to pull out of Afghanistan because of tiring of the monetary cost and the UK went with. It had absolutely nothing to do with the people who tragically died in that war who it feels are quite often unfortunately erased to make a prettier remembrance picture.

Id make the biggest, most flamboyant paper poppy ever and wear it just to take the pee

I don’t think anyone who thinks this should be enforced understands the first thing about what they’re pretending to respect.

It is outrageous being told you have to wear a poppy regardless of where you work. I have no idea what grounds they would have for disciplinary action.

I don’t wear a poppy, I don’t plant to in the future. That’s my choice in the free society we are told we live in, and that those who died gave their lives for.

You don’t need to justify yourself. It’s your choice. The person who commented to you is just looking for a fight

Do you mean supermarket spaces?

Where is this - I’ve never seen it (and I travel a lot for work)

My DH is a pacifist and hates the implied glorification of war in the poppy wearing (having fought in a war himself, not in the British military). He wouldn't wear a poppy under any circumstances, I know, and he would lose his job rather than do so.

This is not a thing. I'm a huge supporter of poppies and I have a sticker on my car all year around. I never wear a poppy.