Two minutes silence and refusing to serve customer

[BalugaBelle]

At work today I was on the checkout (large retail store) and the silence was announced over a tannoy.

A woman (on the phone) came up to the checkout during the silence, so I shushed her. Motioned to poppies next to till!

She then said, "I'm going to miss my train, please continue serving me!"

I refused, shook my head and sat silently for the two minutes.

At the end I put her items through, she moaned at me and called me rude and petty and then went on her merry way.

So was I being unreasonable to respect the two minutes silence, even if it meant a customer was unhappy at me doing so?

I know good customer service is needed but surely the two minutes silence takes priority? She clearly had no respect!

Quite frankly I didn't give a damn about her train, I was paying my respects as was everyone else in the shop. It was literally almost silent apart from young children (understandable) and general noise, i.e., heating making noises!

Are people really that ill-educated?

Yes. Yes they are.

I find it unspeakably bizarre that you expect the royal British legion to be able to stop war from breaking out anywhere in the world

The British Legion is a charity that receives some of the proceeds of the poppies sold. The whole remembrance thing is a much, much bigger operation that the RBL. It is the government and the media who drive the whole poppy thing, not the charity. Have you wondered why literally every single news-reader wears a poppy and the whole public is expected to participate in this, yet the same never happens for ANY other charity? Why do we not have a 2 minute silence for cancer victims for instance?

The other thing is that it should not be for a charity to provide for injured soldiers. The government who sent them into battle should meet all the costs (they don't- they are often made homeless and suffer immense emotional and physical distress).

The other thing is that the poppy thing is now synonymous with supporting the military and the country at any cost it seems. Again, that is media-driven, not driven by the RBL. Why aren't people asking why we still continue to send 18 year old boys into war-zones to be blown up when we vowed to learn from what happened in WW1?

The other thing is that it should not be for a charity to provide for injured soldiers. The government who sent them into battle should meet all the costs (they don't- they are often made homeless and suffer immense emotional and physical distress).

YES to this!

We had Tony Blair standing in somber silence at many remembrance services and wearing a poppy, yet casually inventing evidence to support unnecessary military action that would kill millions. The silence makes no difference.

But we are not Tony Blair or the government. Don’t you get that thousands of people choose to pay their respects to the thousands that died and the thousands that still go to war having had no influence whatsoever on whether or not out country did (and may still) go to war?

I am absolutely baffled by the many, many posts suggesting the OP could have rung up the goods in silence

Are people really that ill-educated?

Nope, I don't get why that is ill-educated. Presumably buses, taxis and trains don't stop during the silence. I know the point about hospitals was shouted down, but surely a taxi is not performing a life-saving action yet we don't expect taxi drivers to pull over for 2 minutes. Why can a shop-worker not continue to serve customers in silence?

You might think it's rude (that's your choice) but it has nothing to do with education.

The other thing is that it should not be for a charity to provide for injured soldiers. The government who sent them into battle should meet all the costs (they don't- they are often made homeless and suffer immense emotional and physical distress)

I agree with this. However I observe the silence because I remember that my family members fought in the war. I fundamentally disagree with the approach taken by the government and think it is, quite frankly, disgusting how they leave ex-military to suffer.

I agree with you there wild, but what you're saying isn't the fault of people remembering the war dead (often their own personal dead)

According to google there are 525600 minutes in a year of which you can buy stuff for 525598. Op observing the silence is hardly massively impacting on that woman’s available time to buy stuff.

Remembrance might not work for our glorious leaders but I don’t know anyone who observes the silence who uses it as a way of getting people to go to war - I’d think remembering the dead of war would put people off.

If your place of work was observing the silence she should habe respected that. YANBU

YANBU. She can wait for 2 bloody minutes surely.

I don't think you should have served her. Her choice whether to observe the silence, your choice whether you do.

Yanbu rudelady.

Dh and i stupidly didnt even realise it was 11 nov until 12 pm today.

YANBU. The womans desire to be served didn't over ride the OP's desire to observe the silence.
I was in Lakeside for the silence yesterday. It was incredibly moving. They played an excerpt from 'For the Fallen', and then played The Last Post over the tannoy, before observing the silence. We were in the main centre part, and everyone observed it. Afterwards, they had a choir singing war time songs. My 97 year old nan cried bless her.

It sounds from the OP as if it was made clear over the tannoy that there would be a 2 minute silence and that the tills would be closed during that time. The customer was warned in advance.

Her behaviour was obnoxious, she was talking loudly on the phone to her friend all through the silence, and laughing. I think she was very likely not really in a hurry but simply taking the piss out of the 2 minute silence.

YWNBU, OP. Whatever anyone’s views about the 2 minute silence, the lack of respect towards people who want to honour those who died in war is very wrong.

I'm genuinely surprised by the amount of people saying that the OP should have served the customer.

It's two minutes silence, no it's not compulsory as someone said, but I can't imagine that what the customer was buying was compulsory either or she wouldn't have left it so late before her train.

She was being disrespectful. Sadly, you just need to look at the responses on here to see that some people really do not give a shit about respect anymore.

I think you were correct, especially as the store had announced it. No sale is completely silent, and in any case, pausing and stopping what ever you are doing is a part of the silence.

YANBU. I respect the right of people not to observe the silence but equally I expect them to respect my right to respect it. If someone can’t wait 2 minutes they need to plan more carefully.

Yes, you did the right thing op. Another sign that consumerism matters more than anything else. If she wanted serving because she had to catch her train, then get there earlier, it was hardly a revelation was it. Ridiculous, entitled woman. Good for you standing your ground.

I agree with you there wild, but what you're saying isn't the fault of people remembering the war dead (often their own personal dead)

I understand that and that is a personal thing and you are free to attend a ceremony. However, the whole 2 minute silence everywhere, including in shops, is driven by the government. It is not the charity because otherwise we would have silences for absolutely everything.

We have people being ripped apart in the media for daring not to wear a poppy. I remember watching an episode of corrie and every single actor had a poppy (including someone who was meant to be homeless) so it was obviously some compulsory policy. The Sun who wrote a lovely joke about invading Spain and has supported military action in the past is particularly militant about people wearing poppies.

The whole venerating soldiers as 'heroes' is also deeply wrong. It allows the government to avoid responsibility for what they have done to what are no more than children. Calling them heroes suggests that they willingly sacrificed themselves for the greater good. No, they are victims. The army targets kids from deprived areas and sends them in to witness the most extreme horrors you could imagine, often to be brutally killed or injured. Yet, this is held up as okay because these kids are 'heroes'.

The same government who encourages us all to take part in remembrance ceremonies and silences also refuses to pay for the rehabilitative care of a double amputee former soldier. No thank you.

yabu you don't need to shun others who actually are alive to remember those who are not. its not logical.

I am anti war but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect the men that go to war! I observed the 2 minutes silence yesterday and I won’t ever forget what those brave men and women did for us. That is totally separate on what I think about Tony Blair And David Cameron. It’s about respect and I do respect the men who lay down their lives, I do not respect the ones who sit in office and make the decisions from a bench while joking about it. Armistice day is not about gloryfing war, how on earth you think you could glorify the pits and trenches of WWI I don’t know.

The army targets kids from deprived areas and sends them in to witness the most extreme horrors you could imagine, often to be brutally killed or injured. Yet, this is held up as okay because these kids are 'heroes'

And how do you think that these young men and women feel to hear someone like you dismiss everything they went through and the ceremonies to remember it as “wanky”? Because everything else you’ve said, I’ve agreed with. But to use a word like that is offensive and unnecessary as I said before. For some reason you’ve chosen not to respond.

Everyone is anti war surely? I've never heard of anyone being pro war

The army targets kids from deprived areas

No it does not. And as someone whose child has joined the army in recent years, I can tell you that they make sure you are under no illusions of what you are joining up to do. They don't tell you you are going to become a hero because the vast majority of service personnel don't believe they are heroes. They hate that The Scum have held them up as such.

My husband isn't a victim either. He's an ordinary bloke doing a skilled job that he enjoys. The military is so much more than the soldiers who are on the front line.

Targeting kids from deprived areas is at least outdated- it's really very hard to join the army now. It's not something you do because you have no other choice or are a bit thick