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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Wearing a poppy at job interview

278 replies

YouThank · 08/11/2020 15:39

AIBU to wear a poppy on my shirt when I go to a job interview? I have two interviews lined up this week, one on Tuesday and one on Friday.

My sis says I shouldn't wear a poppy for an interview and certainly not after the remembrance day e.g. on the Friday.

OP posts:
PinkSparklyPussyCat · 09/11/2020 07:49

@Fischliweiss

I associate them with pro military people. Who I strongly dislike. There's a cult of poppy wearing at this time of year. So if I was interviewing you I'd judge you for it. Sorry but true.
Thank god for that, I'd hate to end up working for the likes of you!
DappledThings · 09/11/2020 07:56

@YouThank

Is it a faux pas to wear after 11.11.?
It's just a bit odd. Poppies are for remembrance and the commemoration of that is the 11th. Carrying on wearing it afterwards just looks to me me as if you aren't really aware of the date and just have a vague notion of it being something to do with November.

But if I was interviewing you I wouldn't hold it against you.

CatWithKittens · 09/11/2020 11:24

Generalconfusion - at least we would have identified a very bad fit. I would not want anybody working for me who was so ungrateful and/or parsimonious that they had not bought a poppy.

OneTC · 09/11/2020 11:34

I interview people

I don't wear a poppy but do personally contribute and raise money for the British legion through our business. I choose not to wear a poppy as I don't think that veterans services should be so reliant on charity

I would not judge someone either way if I was interviewing them although having it on your inner clothes would strike me as a bit weird for some reason but again I wouldn't think about it at your interview

However ymmv

OchonAgusOchonO · 09/11/2020 11:39

@CatWithKittens

Generalconfusion - at least we would have identified a very bad fit. I would not want anybody working for me who was so ungrateful and/or parsimonious that they had not bought a poppy.
And this is exactly why the poppy is divisive. The poppy fascists cannot accept that anyone has a different perspective.
Thedogscollar · 09/11/2020 12:24

I wear a small poppy pin on my lanyard at work. I cannot see a problem with wearing whatever you want to support this great cause all year round.

Thedogscollar · 09/11/2020 12:32

@Fischliweiss
Dear God what a disgusting comment. If it wasn't for the
actions of brave men and women you wouldn't be able to spout such utterly vile comments. You should be ashamed to benefit from their deaths. Shame on you.

Yourpartjewishfriend · 09/11/2020 12:35

It makes me laugh how people don't like 'pro military' people...

I was in the military, I helped free people (I can't go into details) from a terrorist group. They were very very grateful. Should we have let them all die?

The military exists to step in when words don't work anymore.

Or plenty of Afghans I know were VERY grateful we got the taliban out of their village, built a sanitation system, helped them set up local government, train their police up.

Andante57 · 09/11/2020 12:41

@Handsoffisback

Fischliweiss what a disgusting creature you are.
This.
SueEllenMishke · 09/11/2020 12:46

I associate them with pro military people. Who I strongly dislike. There's a cult of poppy wearing at this time of year. So if I was interviewing you I'd judge you for it. Sorry but true.

What a ridiculous statement. My 6 year old wears his poppy with absolute pride and will tell anyone who listens that he wears it for his great grandad who died in the war. We wear them to remember our family......why would you judge people for that? and to call it a cult....wtf are you talking about?

FrancoBranco · 09/11/2020 12:55

Wow, this thread is eye opening.

When I used to live in England I always wore a poppy, because it was culturally expected and I didn't know any different. I expressed the same kind of outrage seen on this thread about people who refused to wear poppies "it's for the fallen soldiers! My grandad served in WW2! It is in memory of young men who made the ultimate sacrifice!". However now I live in Ireland and my eyes have been truly opened to the atrocities carried out by the British Army, and all armies in fact. There are people on this thread telling others to 'fuck off' if they don't wear a poppy; this is crazy poppy fascism. The enforced wearing of nationalist symbols and lionising of the army helps no one. Let people have their own views.

Also, my grandad lost an eye in the war, among other injuries, and the British Legion never helped him, so they can do one.

OchonAgusOchonO · 09/11/2020 13:04

@SueEllenMishke - and to call it a cult.

Examples of things that make it cult-like. Comments like: I would not want anybody working for me who was so ungrateful and/or parsimonious that they had not bought a poppy.

The poster who told me to fuck off because I said I am not willing to commemorate the perpetrators of bloody Sunday, the black and tans and other atrocities committed by British forces.

The treatment of James McLean for not wearing a poppy.

The insistence by the BBC that all presenters wear one.

I respect people's right to wear one. Most wear them for perfectly reasonable and decent reasons. However, there is a element who don't recognise that not everyone is coming from the same place and that their experiences are different.

monstermancs · 09/11/2020 15:14

Yes definitely wear it. It is a symbol which shows you are a kind and sympathetic person who commemorates all the young people who died in wars.

OchonAgusOchonO · 09/11/2020 16:03

@monstermancs

Yes definitely wear it. It is a symbol which shows you are a kind and sympathetic person who commemorates all the young people who died in wars.
The poppy doesn't commemorate all the young people who died in wars. For example, it doesn't commemorate the shooting of 16 year old Leo McGuigan who was shot by the british army while walking along Estoril Park or Martin McShane aged 16, shot by the british army outside a youth centre or the six 17 year olds shot during bloody sunday or 13 year old Margaret Gargan shot by sniper from British Army observation post while walking past etc etc
TibetanTerrier · 09/11/2020 23:46

@OchonAgusOchonOhon
The poppy doesn't commemorate all the young people who died in wars. For example, it doesn't commemorate the shooting of 16 year old Leo McGuigan who was shot by the british army while walking along Estoril Park or Martin McShane aged 16, shot by the british army outside a youth centre or the six 17 year olds shot during bloody sunday or 13 year old Margaret Gargan shot by sniper from British Army observation post while walking past etc etc

I disagree. The poppy marks the remembrance of those who have died in war and terrorism, both military and civilian.

MiddlesexGirl · 09/11/2020 23:49

@speakout

Don't! Poppies are becoming a bit of a hot potato- for lots of reasons.

Stay neutral.

Good reason for being clear which 'side' you're on then.
baubled · 10/11/2020 06:41

Good luck today OP, poppy or not!

orangejuicer · 10/11/2020 06:43

@baubled

Good luck today OP, poppy or not!
This!
Yourpartjewishfriend · 10/11/2020 09:32

Good luck today Op!!
I think that's a really good point someone raised, it's for ALL killed in wars, civilians too. Remembrance is for everyone.

cricketmum84 · 10/11/2020 09:36

Wear it.

As a hiring manager I would note the mark of respect and automatically assume positive qualities of someone who had gone out, got a poppy and been bothered to wear it with all the other shit that's going on at the moment!

RuggerHug · 10/11/2020 09:58

Good luck with the interview OP.

And to the anti Irish gang out in this. You have no idea what you're talking about so stop embarrassing yourselves.

OfaFrenchmind2 · 10/11/2020 10:04

Not British, but I would wear one until the 11th. I have tremendous respect for the Western Armed forces, who are doing a great but thankless job protecting civilians against terrorism in France, in the UK and in the world. I have no time for whataboutism.

And of course to honor the Greatest Generation.

CatWithKittens · 10/11/2020 10:40

The people who say poppies are divisive are the ones who make them so by reading into their sale and purchase something which simply is not there. They are not sold to support militarism or war but those who, willingly or unwillingly, went to war and in doing so kept us free to debate on threads like this. I remember hearing an old soldier who had seen Belsen only days after it was liberated, saying, that he and his generation had to decide between the negation of peace which was total war and the negation of peace which was total tyranny and how sad it was that so many of those who talked about peace did not understand that there could be no peace where there was true tyranny.

Saoirse7 · 10/11/2020 12:18

CatwithKittens

With respect, the fact you can't see why they are divisive means that you are either completely oblivious or ignorant to the whole history of the British Army.

I don't support the poppy appeal or wear a poppy for many reason. The main one is that I live in Derry, if you did a small amount of research you would see why the majority of people from Derry don't wear them. Second of all, I absolutely think it is a disgrace that people who gave their lives for their country have to rely on support from a charity. The government should be ashamed this charity has to exist and should be the ones to look after their veterans.

So in short, while the Poppy Appeal is advertised as commemorating the world wars, it also commemorates and financially supports ALL British Army veterans including those who shot dead 13 innocent people in my town and will never be brought to justice.

That is my reason not to wear a Poppy, however, I do respect the 2 minutes silence and also respect anyone else's right to wear one.

Saoirse7 · 10/11/2020 12:26

Also, the very British Army which 'kept you free' was the very one who oppressed many Irish people.

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