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!

How hard is it to take the tiny amount of time out of your day to show some respect?

Perhaps for somebody rushing to catch a train it is quite difficult. Nobody on here know the woman's circumstances.
If a shop is going to literally refuse to serve customers, as opposed to just invite them to join the silence, then it should probably close altogether.

If a shop is going to literally refuse to serve customers, as opposed to just invite them to join the silence, then it should probably close altogether

OP has since dropped the bomb that security at her local refuse to let customers leave during the silence.

Perhaps for somebody rushing to catch a train it is quite difficult. Nobody on here know the woman's circumstances
If she knew she had 2 mins til her train then going into a shop with a sign and tannoy announcement about thr silence probably wasn't the right thing to do.

But hey, she's the sort of obnoxious person who has loud phonecalls in shops and stays on her phone at the checkout. She is a rude and entitled individual regardless of the 2 min silenve happening or not.

This gets funnier and funnier.

You have zero ‘right’ to be served, none, nada, niente!!

There is no conflict of rights. If you don’t like the way the shop operates, find one you prefer. Waitrose (for example) does not give a flying .... for one rude customer’s £20k (assuming big budget) relative to their sales of £5 bio.

Of course you shouldn’t be serving and disrupting the two minutes silence.

If you're running so late you can't afford two minutes then you should probably be at the train station instead of doing some shopping. The queue could have been two minutes longer, you don't waste time you can't afford..I suspect she was just an arsehole

Completely reasonable. Surely the beeps from the barcode scanner would have been heard across the entire shop.

I can’t believe how self satisfied and judgemental some posters are on this thread. You have no idea at all what that woman was running for the train for, maybe she was on the phone because her babysitter had rang as she was about to get on the train and said her child wasn’t well and could she pick up some calpol. Maybe her period had started and she had to pop in to get some sanitary towels and as she went into the shop her work rang her and she had to take it. Maybe the silence isn’t a priority for her or she just forgot and she needed to get a connecting train but she also needed to ring her husband and tell him something at the same time as buying a mars bar.

Jesus wept, there’s loads of reasons why she might be in a hurry and on her phone and not have noticed the signs or the tannoy, but please keep shouting ‘entitled’ and ‘scumbag’ because that’s obviously going to bring more peace into the world

See this has made the Daily Mail.

It has probably already been mentioned but this is in the DM now

Couldn't care less what her reasons were, young men went off to fight and some never came back, the least we can do is observe a couple of minutes in contemplative silence to remember their ultimate sacrifice. I think that trumps whatever her reason was for wanting service "right now".

YANBU AT ALL

I wouldn't have served her if she was on the phone in any case. Most stores have policies in place for this lack of respect.
You were not unreasonable, in the slightest. Going ahead and serving her in silence would have defeated the object. Carrying on what you're doing whilst literally being silent isn't observing the silence. It's supposed to be a moment of contemplation. In the city I was in earlier, everyone at 11 stopped dead in the street and paid proper respect, it was very moving.
If she had a train to catch, she was in the wrong place.

the least we can do is observe a couple of minutes in contemplative silence to remember their ultimate sacrifice

People can remember the war dead in a contemplative silence any time they choose.

Not everyone subscribes to the notion that that silence should be one imposed on them from on high.

The silence is only 120 seconds Sentimental None of those reasons you listed make late phone lady seem any less rude.

It’s true she might not have noticed initially because she was on the phone, but she still pushed on and then berated the OP.

Yep she’s rude.

YANBU. She's free not to observe it and can choose to leave her purchases if she's that concerned about the train. The only one trying to force the other either way was the customer by trying to compel you NOT to observe it.

ButchyRestingFace
When you have a son in the armed forces feel free to spout you ridiculous hippy dippy ideas, until then STFU

@Chocachoo - The only one trying to force the other either way was the customer by trying to compel you NOT to observe it.

The OP also tried to force the shopper the other way by shushing her. Neither OP nor shopper come out of this scenario covered in glory.

When you have a son in the armed forces feel free to spout you ridiculous hippy dippy ideas, until then STFU

Well, since you asked so nicely...

God almighty, it's one day, for 2 minutes, that's all, I refuse to believe that anyone is so busy or that they are so important that they can't be take 2 minutes out of the the day to be quiet and think of others, what has become of us?

I agree with maisys last two posts

And just about everyone who says the OP was not being unreasonable

When you have a son in the armed forces feel free to spout you ridiculous hippy dippy ideas, until then STFU

What has having a son in the forces got to do with anything?

Wiggypudding

Because you then get the idea of what it's like to have a child (young man) go away to somewhere dangerous with the possibility that they might not return! Your question is disrespectful in the extreme.

They mademe.** OP shushed her! OMG! Are you serious? How OUTRAGEOUS? During a Remembrance Day silence!

She didn’t wrestle her to the ground and bitch slap her FGS.

No, you telling people to STFU if they haven't got a child in the forces is disrespectful.

nomire

Not dad, or husband, or brother?

i appreciate it must be incredibly difficult for you