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!

midnightscribbler is bang on there. Its 2 whole minutes set aside at the same time on the same day every year. It is simply a sign of respect. A display of respect for all those who sacrificed. 2 measley minutes and people cant even give them that. They can stand and think about jam or crocodilea for what its worth as long as they outwardly show the smallest token of respect. I feel very strongly on the matter and anyone who refuses to acknowledge their sacrifice are as bad as hollocaust deniers in my opinion.

I agree with you OP. The 2 min silence should be observed. Besides, it was announced. (her fault if she was on the phone and not listening) She could have left and gone to another store if she didn't want to wait.

I hope she missed her train. What an awful woman. Well done OP.

What others do in those two minutes does not impact me or my reflections.

It does if they are demanding someone stop their two minutes and serve them. If their loud talking and laughing in an otherwise silent space is distracting. She could have quietly stood and sent a text or examined her cuticles, but she wanted to drag the OP into it.

I don't observe any silences or reflections, personal choice. But I wouldn't expect to be served during one either! YANBU.

worridmum
You can if you like - most of DH's family are Muslim. Wouldn't have an issue with somebody eating it in a mosque or around them. It's fine to touch it or be near it, they just don't think it's ok to eat it. Big misconception.

You did the right thing. A lot of our men never made it to the train home and their mum’s hearts were broken.

You were not being unreasonable.

I worked in a call centre for large UK bank and didn't take a call, despite the queues, during the silence on year. We had,the choice even though the silence wasn't being officially observed.

It's two minutes out a lifetime.

If two minutes is going to make you miss your train, you've fucked up. What if there had been a problem with the till? Or if her card had been declined?

YANBU. Scanning silently would have been very disrespectful.

there must be different sects or something as i have worked (in retail) were some people would refuse to handle or sell both pork products and alcohol and also walk out of a room if people were consuming either products as well (they tried to get management to ban pork products from the staff room as apparently they were not allowed to eat in the same room as both types of food).

Oh ok also had a friend who actually got married on 11/11/2011 at 11am aa she thought it was a cool thing to do. I skipped that invite.

I think it was a good thing you did. The customer is not king and always right. Sometimes there are more important things than satisfying a customer. And yes, she eas very rude to talk and insist you serve her. No one would have wanted to listen the the racket you would have made.

I think the act of Remembrance is more important than kow-towing to a customer.

This.

YANBU good for you!

Yanbu.

It's great that you observed it even under pressure.

Absolutely YANBU, you were totally right. I'm amazed anyone would think otherwise

Yanbu

People can wait 2 mins once a year.

If it was that important, she wouldn't be stupid enough to organise her day so that a two minute delay would make her miss it.

Some people are just idiots to be fair.

What a particularly crass and ill-informed post SGB

The silence is there to remember all casualties of war, not just WW1....oh forget it, there's no arguing with ignorance. You carry on swearing and insulting people, fill your jackboots

I'm glad you didn't serve her. The silence was announced, her choice not to observe, the shops choice to observe. If she didn't like it she was free to go elsewhere, but not to demand service in that time.
YANBU

Reanimated what a fucking disgusting thing to say. Are you actually educated? It's not just about ww1, it includes all conflicts since. No wonder there are so many entitled people about if your attitude is anything to go by. By the way op yanbu I also work in retail and we always observe the silence.

Would you expect the emergency services to stop fighting a fire/cutting someone out of a crashed car/delivering a baby because of some compulsory but essentially pointless ritual?

What an utterly ridiculous comparison. It's hardly a matter of life and death if someone waits 2 minutes at a checkout to buy some groceries!
Seriously. Get a grip.

I think you did right. Well done for sticking to your guns. To serve her, even in silence would have disrespected the sacrifice that people made in order to give us a free country. If people can't give 2 mins silence I say shame on them. If she was that late to catch her train then her time keeping was at fault. Everyone in this country should know that at the 11th hour on the 11 th day of the 11th month there is a 2 min silence and rightly so. If she doesn't like it then she can always sod off to another country and good riddens to that sort of person. We don't want them in the UK. Come on all of you out there - this is a sign of respect and reminds us that wars are futile and cause a tremendous loss of life. Well done to you for not serving this scum!