To expect one's colleagues to respect the 2 minute silence for Armistice Day

[suebfg]

...and not make a phone call in the middle of the office?

''If that decision has been taken you SHOULD sit quietly''

Why SHOULD you....its not law, its a choice, some people choose not to join in, so they dont, and as they dont have to its a none issue. Other peoples noise really wont effect your 2minutes silence at all, if you are silent then you have played along and done your bit as you see fit. It you dont want to mark the silence the only alternative is to not be silent surely?

Um any chance that their clock on their PC was out of sync - we ended up doing it twice as half our office's computer clocks are 5mins out only realised when It manager sent an e-mail round highlighting the fact that the time on them may differ by 5mins either way

But babydubs surely respecting the fact everyone else in the office does want to do it means you can be quiet for 2 minutes. It's not exactly hard.

I was in the Trafford centre at 11 am yesterday. The tannoy annouced there would be a silence and the whole place went silent at 111am. Now I think it's a pretty safe bet that some people in there at the time didn't agree with it but they had the decency to still stay quiet for that time.

My colleague and I were discussing a call I had just taken, and we had no emails, announcements or anything in our workplace, but I noticed the radio had gone silent, and I said 'oh got to stop talking', so we observed approx 1.5mins of 2 min silence.

As soon as the 2 mins silence finished one of the blokes in the office, started having a go at us, for being insensitive and incapable of stopping talking for two minutes, and I said if you were that bothered you could have reminded us of the time, and he said it's 2 minutes silence, how can I tell you to be quiet when it's two minutes silence. I said by saying it's coming up to 11 as simple as that. And he continued to say we were disrespectful.

Talk about creating a hostile environment!

I don't purchase a poppy because I choose to donate to other charities. I find the whole remberance thing has become a competition rather than a respect thing. I show more respect than you.

I wouldnt expect someone to pretend to put some change in the dogstrust tin, I also wouldnt expect someone who doesnt feel the need, to be silent on my behalf. I dont see it as disrespectful to not do something that is not compulsary just because other people are choosing to do it. I cant see why it is disrespectful.

Going about your everyday business making noise as you usually = NOT OBSERVING
Standing still in silence = OBSERVING
Waving in peoples faces and laughing = DISRESPECTFUL

My opinion of course so totally worthless

I was at a hospital appointment (non urgent) and the 2 minutes silence was observed. Obviously in A&E it would be ridiculous to stop for 2 minutes, but starting a non urgent phone call in the middle of it is very disrespectful.

For me the 2 minutes silence is time to think about those who had no choice and were drafted in to fight for their country and died in the process.

no trixy it isn't disrespectful to make a call in your office as you would normally do if you aren't taking part in the silence. it is called carrying on as normal. you are the person who has opted in to the silence. you are the person changing the normal routine, not them. the people who dont do it haven't opted out. doing the silence is not a default thing that people can choose not to do. it is and extra thing some people choose to do

If the decision has been taken that the office will fall silent then to sit in the office talking is disrespectful to those who are trying to partake in the silent. Of course there is nothing stopping you from walking out if you don't want to take part.

I attend rugby matches and they often have a minutes silence at the start. Normally for people i don't know however it would be disrespectful of me to stand in the ground talking while everyone else around me was silent.

"there is a difference between not respecting it and not observing it."
I'd have to disagree with this. I think you have to consider what a silence is, and the inevitable reaction of a human brain to it.

The sudden ceasing of that sensory input tends to make the brain look for other input to process, and since many tend to look down the visual input drops as well. The brain therefore tends to concentrate more on what input it still has - thoughts. This allows those observing the silence to really FEEL what they are thinking about; plus there's a sense of communing with all others that we know are also observing the silence.

By not observing the silence in the vicinity of those who do, you are providing sensory input, which their brains will seize upon and provide distraction, lessening the effect of their attempt to observe the silence.

Don't kid yourself that not observing it personally doesn't affect those around you that wish to.

I used to work in a very large office in a multinational. No emails were circulated, but if you wanted to respect the silence you could if possible. However others may not want to or be able to, and may be carrying on their work round you. If you were dealing with a client or something time sensitive you couldn't always just hang up. Silence is personal and whilst I would always do my utmost to observe it others not doing so would have no bearing on me, it is personal reflection.

Great post whereyouleftit

Look, it's perfecrtly all right to be uninterested in the silence or to have more pressing concerns. People need to get the fuck over themselves.
There's a very good piece here that should make some of these witless sentimental racist wankers think for a moment.

And yes, whoever made the face, there is a lot of racism around the poppy appeal fusses this year. All that 'If you don't like the poppies fuck off back to where you came from dark-skinned-person'

"Don't kid yourself that not observing it personally doesn't affect those around you that wish to."

i never said it didn't affect them.

but i say again, they are the ones who chose to hold a silence in my place of work. they have to accept that no-one is obligated to be silent and that normal work will continue. if they want real silence then they have to be the ones to go somewhere else to find that silence.

I get up from my desk at 10.59 and find somewhere quiet. If my phone rings, sod it.

WhereYouLeftIt, I think you're putting the "burden" of this on the wrong person though. A person who cannot concentrate without total silence should prepare in advance and go outside alone or bring some ear plugs with them. Most people manage to filter noise out perfectly well.

OP YABU. Choosing to pay respect is a private decision, as is how, where and when it's done. Just because you have chose this form of paying respect does not mean that you can expect others to do so.

YABU

Its a personal choice

YANBU

I think it is important to mark it.

People died. Young men, with their whole lives ahead of them, died. In horrifying numbers.

They deserve to be remembered.

It is unacceptable to use that time to make a point, or to say well, I don't agree with war, so fuck em. Or to try to be political about it.

It isn't about that. It isn't about whether war is justified or not, it isn't about what governments should or shouldn't do.

It is about those individuals who died. It is remembering them, not supporting war.

You don't express how you feel about war by shitting on the memory of all those people.

They died. They experienced such awful conditions. They were kids and they were terrified. And they died.

And they deserve more than to be ignored because someone thinks that by doing so they are making some point or other about how wrong war is.

We all know how awful war is but those human beings deserve to be remembered.

So a whole office of people should have to go elsewhere because one person doesn't agree with it?

What about at things like sports events when silences are done, is it acceptable for people to talk then?

hecate OP didn't say her colleague was making a point

i have never been to a sports even where everyone was silent during the imposed silent period. never. there have always been people who dont observe them, for whatever reason. it is up to them.

99% of the ones I have been to (normally at rugby matches) have been perfectly respected.

Great post Hecate