If you don’t want to observe two minute silence- don’t be out

[Mokel]

Every Remembrance Sunday and Nov 11th, when I worked at retail, we did a tannoy announcement with 5 min, 2 min before to inform customers that the store will be observing the 2 min silence. Then another to start it.

Every time there were customers who kept talking. Plus one time a woman in her 50s shouted “why can’t anyone serve me some fucking fags?” Everyone just looked at her. Some had the courage to say how disrespectful she was once the silence ended.

If you are unable or refuse to observe the silence at 11am today or tomorrow, please don’t be in a public place.

They destroyed the moment of reflection for others.

In the context of the OP, and in response to many situations where the hideous entitled American-style attitudes get banded about (e.g. blaring phones on public transport), having a right to do something doesn't make it right to do it.

If it’s that important to you, don’t go to a supermarket. I will observe it but another person making a noise doesn’t interrupt my own quiet thoughts.

I’ve only gotten to page 6 of this thread but my God there is an awful lot of performative anti-performativeness here.

So you’re denying someone the freedom to speak.
Hypocrite.
The soldiers who died supposedly died to allow that exact freedom So you are denigrating their memory by your hypocrisy.

Wonder if the silence is being respectful to the Vietnam dead or is it only for the ones that died to Win the war not the Vietnam one you lost.

People can speak, but just don't expect an answer from someone observing the silence. If I was a retail worker I would refuse to engage with a customer during the silence.

That’s why self service machines are so helpful although in this instance not so much

Ridiculous post? Meaningless?
Dear god..
Did your grandparents/greatgrandparents not fight in the war? Did you not do history at school? It's about RESPECT..remembering those that didn't come home, that fought for YOUR freedom . 2 minutes in anyone's life to remember is not a huge sacrifice.

i dont need 2 mins of silence once a year to remember the sacrifices my ancestors made for this world

I agree with this. The whole thing has become such a performance, virtue signalling at its worst. Add in who is wearing a poppy or not, whether it is being worn "properly" 🙄is it an official one, or something else etc and it has lost a whole lot of the meaning it once had.

Be silent, or not. "Reflect" or not. It is a personal choice and I'm sick of people making such a big deal about what others choose to do. I come from a family with generations of people who have given service to the country. The common denominator of them all, is the mental scars it has left them with. My brother fought in the first gulf war when he was 18, he didn't die but I lost him in that war. He has never been the same again. I think often about what he gave up for a war which was all about control of oil his country.

@Mokel If you are so keen to make sure you have silence around you, how about you stay home to observe it.

Did your grandparents/greatgrandparents not fight in the war? Did you not do history at school? It's about RESPECT..remembering those that didn't come home, that fought for YOUR freedom . 2 minutes in anyone's life to remember is not a huge sacrifice.

Perhaps if you want to suggest someone is being ignorant, you might want to do a bit of background reading yourself.

Remembrance is about all military personnel and their sacrifices, not just "the war" and "those who didn't come home"

The "freedom" some may have fought for was the freedom to carry on with your life without interference from others.

What a stretch! 🤣 This thread is getting ridiculous now.

Can I just ask why people wouldn’t want to observe the silence?

Lmao at shops trying to enforce this, many years ago I had a strange young fogey boyfriend who made us stop and do an armistice two minute's silence in a restaurant where we were having brunch in West London, the waiter had literally just put our food down and we didn't eat it and didn't speak and nobody had a clue why and were looking at us very quizzically!

'A silence is meaningless'...really?

Why does it matter? It's nobody else's business.

What we need is more tolerance, as long as it's not harming anyone else.

Those who want to observe it, observe it - those who don't, that's their business.

They do, but they don't have the right to prevent others who DO want to observe it. So they need to respect staff, such as shop staff, who are observing it and have every right not to serve some impatient half-wit who can't wait a minute or two!

I've often been in supermarkets when everyone has been silent, and some idiot starts jumping up and down wanting the cashier to serve them. If they can't wait a couple of minutes, then, yes, I tend to agree with the OP, don't go out around that time!

I've also been in huge loud places, such as an airport, where everyone respected the 2 minutes silence, which is very impressive when you consider the thousands of people and how noisy and bustling they usually are.

Even at football matches, the 2 minute silence is usually respected by the majority.

Thankfully the vast majority of people are still respectful. Idiots who can't stand still and be quiet for only 2 minutes in an entire year, probably do need to stay home as it's very disrespectful to everyone else!

I think if you are the sort of person who is going to have a conniption fit because others choose not to observe a voluntary custom, then the supermarket probably wasn't the right venue for you to do your two-minute silence in.

If you read through the thread there's several eloquent explanations.

The point is that if the store staff want to observe it, they have that right and shouldn't be disturbed by others who don't!

You clearly don’t understand that Soldiers fought for Freedom do you? Yes, YABVU!

😂😂

Freedom includes not doing a silence if you don't want to.

Very well said 👏👏👏👏👏

Yes, that was my point.

Oh sorry.

😅