Will GameStop Closing Down 300 Stores Affect Promises to Employees? (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Readers, I don’t know about you, but I find the fact that GameStop couldn’t last more than a week without being in the news pretty troubling.

And I don’t mean troubling in the sense of you going to the grocery store for only a few things so you don’t grab a basket or a cart, and now you have to carry like...15 things because your pride won’t allow you to put them down to get one to put them in.

I mean troubling in the sense of you constantly silently judging your bff because they keep going back to their ex after doing nothing but venting to you about how they KNOW how bad they are for them and that they already know the relationship is borderline toxic. And even worse, they have EVERY MEANS of properly breaking up with them without their life being in danger and have a very healthy support network that they just never utilize.

And the look that usually comes across your face when you put all of that together is this: (look)

That’s GameStop to me. (pauses) What? Nothing about that was over-exaggerated; it was a perfect analogy

Anyway, the reason why I mention GameStop is because if you remember, I covered the story regarding the video game retailer finally closing their doors in order to adhere to the various quarantine rules across the United States while we’re dealing with the current health and safety crisis going on.

Y’know...after they got whatever profits they could get from their pre-orders and first day sales of Doom: Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons...

Just as important however, is that on March 21st, they announced they’ll be making provisions in the pay and the benefits of their employees so that if they HAVE been affected by the crisis, they’ll at least still be paid what they make during the two to three weeks they would have to stay under quarantine.

/Then on March 26, GameStop announced that -- after permanently closing over 300 stores nationwide in 2019 -- they’ll be permanently closing 300 MORE stores in 2020/

(Gives the look) Y’see? Perfect analogy.

Right now, there are two bits of info circling around GameStop’s decision; one that comes straight from them, and the other that’s a pretty believable rumor

What GameStop said when the news broke was that it was part of their -- and I quote -- ongoing effort to de-densify

The RUMOR however, is that BECAUSE of the crisis and the effect it’s left on the video game industry ever since E3 was first cancelled -- another topic that I talked about

GameStop is anticipating the release of the X Box Series X and the PlayStation 5 to be delayed because of it, which would leave an impact on the stores that would stay open.

But that wasn’t my concern when I initially read this news. My concern was with the employees

The same employees that only less than a week ago finally got “proper” benefits to cover themselves if they don’t feel safe enough to go to work in these current conditions or if they’re under state-mandated quarantine -- especially since the company did a lackluster job at getting cleaning and sanitization supplies to them

My main question was that, will this announcement of GameStop permanently closing 300+ stores over the course of 2020 mean that the company can deny the new compensation promises that they made to their employees if their stores are the ones selected?

Well, let’s take a closer look at the letter GameStop CEO George Sherman electronically sent every GameStop on March 21st about their store policies and the benefits associates would be getting based on the crisis

More specifically, the ones involving the latter.

/Hourly employees, who are Paid Time Off (PTO) eligible, will receive two weeks (80 hours) of additional PTO/

Now according to GameStop’s employee handbook in 2019

/The only employees that qualify for PTO eligibility are Assistant Store Managers and above. Everyone else gets 2 weeks of unpaid time off/

PTO but without the P

Now when I first read that and finally figured out what that meant, because the phrasing in that sentence was just...TERRIBLE

I’m not gonna lie, I was mad. I never worked at GameStop a day in my life, and I was MAD. I was mad FOR Y’ALL

But I was also told that this is pretty much how retail works when it comes to time off and the like

The only retail job I’ve ever worked was a seasonal temp job at Marshall’s over 10 years ago, so forgive my ignorance

Nevertheless, I’m a firm believer that EVERYONE should get at least SOME form of PTO if they’re a permanent hire. Doesn’t matter their rank or if they’re full or part time

But in the case of the current crisis, the second point KINDA covers that? It also shows that companies have the means to make that a thing.

/In the event that you are not PTO eligible, we will be paying you for two additional weeks of base pay calculated on the weekly average number of hours you have worked over the last 10 weeks/

And then the third one!

/In addition, if you are a full time benefit eligible employee, you will be receiving reimbursement for one full month of employee benefit contributions for the month of April/

So this is everything that GameStop employees are getting as a result of corporate making the decision to close down their physical stores.

I know the majority of them that ARE still open are being encouraged to adapt the car door delivery model, but I ju- (huffs) Just thinking about that makes me tired.

And like I said before, Readers. The CEO of GameStop George Sherman sent this email out to every store on March 21st; 5 days before the announcement of the company closing down over 300 stores in 2020.

There’s only one thing that kinda sets my mind at ease regarding whether or not they’ll use that as an excuse to renege on the crisis coverage they promised their employees.

/And that’s the fact that in that same explanation of how that will be distributed to stores that are closed due to the crisis, it also said that said supplemental compensation were implemented, effective IMMEDIATELY./

So everyone who works hourly at GameStop that had to close because of the crisis in one way or another, has access to any and all of the three adjustments I read off as of March 21st 2020, at 5:45pm

Now it is a well-known fact that GameStop is indeed capable of being trash in more ways than one

Because they haven’t announced WHICH 300+ stores are gonna close, there’s always a chance that some of the ones they’ll close haven’t been affected by the crisis in a way that their employees can qualify for this compensation.

We also don’t know when they’re GOING to permanently close these locations, so we also have to take THAT into consideration

Nevertheless, if you work at a GameStop where the current health and safety crisis is impacting your store in a way that any of these adjustments apply to you, THEN USE THEM WHILE YOU HAVE THEM

I think it’s safe to say that we are ALL in agreeance that corporations are not your friends, you are disposable despite what they say, and that it takes a LOT of threats from multiple sources for them to treat the ones that run their business with even an OUNCE of respect

There’s already a list of things out there that can EASILY kill us; one we’re CLEARLY combating as I speak. Your job should NEVER be on that list.

But, I digress Readers. Your homework assignment for the day.

Write in the comment section below why YOU think GameStop is making the decision to close 300 stores in 2020.

Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, if you currently work at a GameStop that’s been affected by the current crisis, if you’ve received any of the new pay policies you qualify for that I read off earlier. I’m tryna see somethin’ right quick...