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!

YANBU

.people died serving for their country I believe the least we can do is give them 2 minutes once a year

Twice - yesterday and today.

And apparently nowaways we're supposed to stop driving and stop walking as well.

The fact that WW2 servicemen and women died so that we would retain our freedom to make choices about these things seems to be lost on a lot of people.

The way idiots treat the November silences these days is the best indication that the ceremony has become tainted and should be ignored. Pro-'Our Heroes' nonsense and the dimwitted malice displayed to those who aren't interested or have conscientous objections is pretty worrying, particularly given the tossers in power or with too much influence at present. The likes of Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees Mogg and Paul Dacre would come in their pants if they could get the UK involved in another war, wouldn't they? (Might get rid of some of those ghastly benefit scroungers, as well.) It wouldn't put them at any risk of being hurt or killed, but they could indulge their unhealthy fantasies about 'old fashioned values' to the max.
Look at the fucking language being used regarding Brexit - 'traitors' and 'enemies of the people' and ask yourself if you're not seeing some of the same very unhealthy attitude being expressed towards people who don't ostentatiously display their 'respect' for the military.

Yes, if you lost friends or relatives in combat and you feel that it's important to participate in the November ceremonies, fair enough (bearing in mind that many service personnel and their families despise the whole thing.) But other people have every right to be unaware, uninterested or to find the whole thing distasteful.

YANBU op.

My supermarket had announcements at 10 and 5 to 11. All colleagues stood at the front of the store, checkout operators included. Self scan machines were in silent but still worked if anyone wanted to use them.

YANBU - it was totally the right thing to do.

lljkk The UK has a 'generous' welfare service? WTF? You've just made it impossible to take your posts seriously. We have people dying from cold and hunger because the Government has decided it's OK to withdraw all support from them. (And some of them are going to be ex-services.)

ReanimatedSGB

But other people have every right to be unaware, uninterested or to find the whole thing distasteful

Yes that is right. And the OP has the right to be silent and have her wishes respected.

@lljkk you're flogging a dead horse. People don't want to hear it.

DS1 can sign off now and leave in July, he doesn't want to. A few he joined up with have and I can guarantee that at least half of those will rejoin because the grass isn't greener on Civvie street and they actually miss the Forces life.

MN has changed a lot since I joined. There used to be a thread on Remembrance Sunday where people posted who they remembered or were thinking of. Now it's just a bloody bunfight over observing a 2 minutes silence.

I don't really understand why anyone could object so strongly to act national act of remembrance. A person can choose to remember or reflect upon whatever they wish, but there is something very powerful about everyone just stopping there normal busy lives and falling silent. That there is peer pressure sometimes i think is a good thing.

Surely that incredibly rare utter stillness and silence could move people, or just one person, to think and feel about the soldiers who died and other victims of war in a way they might not have before. Isn't it worth observing the silence, just in case it helps just one other person to reflect where they otherwise might not?

WildbluebellesI understand your views on war and politics complete and you talk about actually doing something, but I just can't see how making a protest by not observing the silence is going to achieve your goal. Much more likely that it would just fall out of fashion and still nothing would change. I have always understood the silence to be about a wish for peace as a result of remembering those who had their lives cut short.

I sat in silence in my home today to remember and reflect, and happened to have the window open and so could actually hear the world outside becoming more silent. It is very moving and I think it is important that we have something that can unite so many people at once - we don't all have to have the exact same thoughts at the silence but it clearly means a lot to a lot of people (many of whom are not warmongers!) and destroying that rare and meaningful moment out of frustration at continuing conflict just seems cruel and counter productive.

@TheFairyCaravan,

Have you/your son seen the movie Megan Leavey? It's a good flick, but I wish it didn't show her as someone who joined up only because they had a shit going-nowhere life and whose fear (of everything) was ever-present. And then like she didn't know how to grow up or what combat would meant.

The real MeganL joined up because she wanted to be pushed to her limits, to be made to grow up, and out of sense of patriotism (9/11). Her work since leaving military means she's still out looking for bombs, instead of falling to emotional non-functional bits after leaving military, as suggested.

And discussion could help much more than one person.

I think StealthPolarBear is right that for some people it has become more about the virtue signalling competition than about rememberance. But then that is the way of the world today. Jump on the social media virture singal band wagon or your a top cunt. I don't like being bullied by peer pressure into any public show, doesnt mean i dont think they are worthy causes. The point of defending a free society is for the freedom of people to think freely, hold differing opinions and express them self freely. I served 11 years, 4 tour of Afghanistan and 2 other operations. It's very poignant to me because I have seen the cost, including the civilain cost. There is one certainty to conflict and that is suffering. It's take a piece out of everyone involved. Last year I went the local remembrance parade. It's the first time I have worn my medals since leaving. The reason I wore them out of solidarity for my bothers and sisters who have served. Show them their not alone. I don't like to make a song and dance over remeberance but I do remember normally. So i wounder what people think of me? My grandad never did anything for remembrance Sunday, not even a poppy. I wonder what people thought of him? But he was a hero. He had seen such unimaginable things durring the war. Things that he would never forget and shock me still. My dad (his sin in law) was the only one he would ever share his experience of the war with. Despite all his decorations and offer of futher promotion and a bright military career as soon as the war ended all he wanted to was be rid of the army and rid of the war. We should all be free to remember in our own way (or not if we wish). After all is that not freedom? The whole virtue signalling competition sits uneasy with me.

That is quite an ignorant post
You don't get it
The soldiers are proud of what they do and want to serve
They want to protect the innocent & defeat the bad guy & be brave enough to save each other's lives & restore peace

They may very well have been indoctrinated to believe this but if you look among the Iraq/gulf veteran community, many of whom have been tossed on the scrapheap and told to fuck off by the society they fought for, you might find dissenting views. What you are describing is a fairy-tale of war. It's not like that. Our country supplies arms to the 'bad guys'. We are as much bad guys as the people we are fighting and the 'innocent' become casualties rather than being protected. We have a load of overprivileged oiks in government who salivate with excitement at the thought of war, to the extent that they will tell lies publicly just to get the country to agree to the war. The soldiers who 'want' to go are expendable.

Same tactics used to conscript people during the world wars. Those who objected to war were publicly tainted as cowards and anti-patriotic. Their families were vilified. They were put in prison. Those who signed up were held up as brave. That sort of rhetoric is essential because why the fuck else would people agree to sacrifice their lives for a bunch of people who really truly don't give a toss about them? People who can't even be arsed to spend enough money to buy them proper equipment in some cases.

It's not even 'just two minutes out of your life', though. It's four minutes because it has to be done twice plus weeks of bullshit about whether or not you're wearing a poppy.
And peer pressure is not a good thing when it's riddled with racism and mindless worship of militarism. Far, far too many of the people who make a lot of fuss about Supporting The Troops are tossers who want to use the concept to whip up hatred for immigrants or the poor.

WildbluebellesI understand your views on war and politics complete and you talk about actually doing something, but I just can't see how making a protest by not observing the silence is going to achieve your goal.

I should clarify that I would never deliberately disrupt a silence by talking etc. I don't use it to make a point. However, I just find the whole charade nauseating and hypocritical and I do not agree with vilification of those who for very good reasons do not observe it.

I guess my 'goal' or wish is for there to be peace (or for the world to be much more peaceful than it is today). But I can't respect politicians who seem intent on the opposite yet stare wistfully into the distance at some memorial service.

ReanimatedSGB that's a massive an unfair generalisation of an issuses that affects a wide spectrum of society.

Far, far too many of the people who make a lot of fuss about Supporting The Troops are tossers who want to use the concept to whip up hatred for immigrants or the poor

True- Britain First and the EDL are HUGE fans. I realise that that was definitely not the original meaning, but the campaign has been hijacked to a large extent in recent years by tabloid papers and right wing groups.

How did this woman not know it was 11am on Remembrance Sunday? Will she be surprised on Christmas Day when the rellies turn up? Does she wonder what the noise is on Fireworks night?

If you know there is going to be 2 minutes of reflection, you don't expect to be served in a shop or have your phone call answered. You may not respect those affected by war, but many, many people do and you don't have to participate in the 2 minutes yourself, but it is decent behaviour to allow others to have that time, uninterrupted.

Yes!

Undercover, it wasn't on Remembrance Sunday. It was Saturday.

Well Saturday was the 11/11. The silence occurs on 11/11 and on Remembrance Sunday. (At least, in my experience it does.)

WildBlueBelles yes people who chose conscientious objection were treated poorly. There was huge pressure to enlist. A generation of young men were lost in WW1 and indeed in WW2. Those servicing came from across the globe, were all religions and none.
What we are remembering is that ultimate sacrifice those men and women made. We are not debating the rights of war - there can be no right.
We are remembering the young men returning on little boats returning from Dunkirk. My mother was on Ramsgate beach when they came in. She lost three of her brothers in the war and was herself an evacuee. Those young men believed they were doing good and supporting a world free of the tyranny of Nazi rule.
We are remembering those who gave their lives in the Falklands campaign. My sister got married in June 1982. On the morning of the wedding we heard HMS Glamorgan had been lost. Her soon to be brother in law was serving on Glamorgan. Luckily he was fine but those serving on Coventry weren’t. Those aboard believed they were protecting our sovereign territory from oppression.
We are remembering those who gave their lives in the Gulf wars and in the Middle East since. They believed they were protecting global security - and indeed they were.
Is two minutes silence really too much to ask?

Some people in the EDL might like cheese that doesn't mean I should stop eating cheese.

I do my silence my way. Others do what they want. Fine. Just don't interrupt my silence.

I am so disgusted by the amount of people on this thread objecting to a national act of remembrance. There’s a lot of pomp and ceremony around it all but this is two minutes reflection on the sacrifices ordinary people have made. I may not agree with some of the conflicts we’ve been involved in but I admire and appreciate those who have sacrificed something for our country. I think it’s also essential for our self absorbed younger generations to do it as well.