The owner of Hobby Lobby is refusing to shut down the 900 stores across the country during the coronavirus pandemic because God supposedly spoke to his wife.
Businesses across the country are restricting interaction with consumers or closing temporarily in a concerted effort to slow down or stop the virus from spreading. Hobby Lobby is an arts and crafts store, so it’s not essential to society at the moment like grocery stores.
One would think it would be shut down for now, but owner David Green sent a letter to all 43,000 employees informing them that Hobby Lobby won’t close because God said so to his wife, whom he referred to as a “prayer warrior.”
Here’s the full letter via Twitter:
Hobby Lobby owner David Green is telling store managers to stay open despite the pandemic because his wife had a vision from god.
He also warns they’ll all have to “tighten their belts” soon. His net worth is $6.4 billion—hourly employees don’t get paid sick leave. #COVIDIOT pic.twitter.com/4pEhivDbNy
— Towanda the Avenger (@kendallybrown) March 22, 2020
Again, Green is a billionaire who can easily take care of his employees by continuing to pay them even if the stores are closed. But he is being greedy at a time when people around the globe and across our country are getting sick and are dying. Prayer is not going to shield Hobby Lobby employees and customers from getting this virus.
Yet, Hobby Lobby sent a message to customers to assure them of their safety.
“We have increased the frequency of store cleaning, including more cleaning of areas regularly touched by customers and employees, with anti-viral cleaning products throughout the day,” the store said in a statement. “If an employee is suspected of having COVID-19 based on symptoms and/or known direct or indirect exposure, we will send that employee for medical care and to self-isolate at home, and will promptly coordinate with public health officials.”
Of course, most of their 43,000 employees don’t have access to basic paid sick leave.
This doc details Hobby Lobby employee benefits. ONLY salaried employees have access to ANY paid sick leave. At HobLob stores, only the manager & ass’t managers are salaried. Every other employee is hourly. https://t.co/40Z6haq3iE
— Towanda the Avenger (@kendallybrown) March 22, 2020
And any days they take off to get well will count against their vacation days.
In areas with mandatory closings, Hobby Lobby will drain an employee’s accrued vacation time before giving “emergency pay”, which will be limited to 75% of their avg. pay for the past 6 wks.
Employees say they’ve been cutting hours aggressively recently, to keep that $$ low. pic.twitter.com/l7ESwSbjyY
— Towanda the Avenger (@kendallybrown) March 22, 2020
The company is even sinking so low that it’s going to purposely use the coronavirus pandemic as a sales tactic.
UPDATE: Hobby Lobby has been instructing store managers to use the pandemic as a selling technique, by focusing on coronavirus “related” items and setting up displays to entice bored customers out of social isolation and into the store. pic.twitter.com/NxFWSaDoZT
— Towanda the Avenger (@kendallybrown) March 22, 2020
The Green family is trying to use the pandemic to enrich themselves instead of protecting their employees and customers. Again, arts and crafts are NOT essential during this time. Under no circumstances should Hobby Lobby remain open and consumers should not risk their lives to shop there right now. Green and his wife should be ashamed of themselves for using God as a sales pitch and abusing religion to justify staying open.
Some might say they aren’t real Christians. They’re a**holes.
Featured Image: Wikimedia
