Fearful Hobby Lobby employees show what it's like to work in a store that reopened in defiance of state-mandated shutdowns during the coronavirus
Signs placed on the front door of Hobby Lobby stores declare it is "operating as an essential business," citing reasons including "offering PPE mask supplies" and providing educational and home office supplies.
However, employees questioned just how "essential" Hobby Lobby products are, given the company does not sell universally acknowledged essential items like food, medication, and cleaning supplies.
"Most products being bought aren't even the 'essentials' that we claim as a reason to be open," an employee in Georgia said. "It's mostly customers who say they are bored and need something to do. These are the people that we need to be most worried about because they are not caring or even thinking about the lives and safety of us and our families."
Multiple employees said the company's warehouse in Oklahoma City had been closed until further notice, meaning stores aren't even able to restock the inventory that managers and executives are claiming are essential.
Employees in Ohio and Texas said they had been instructed to wear pins declaring that "social distancing is in effect."
However, as one employee pointed out, the pin "can't be read unless you're right next" to a worker ...
... because the font is so small.
Stores in Ohio had previously been asked to "find items for indoors or coronavirus-related and sell them," according to an email sent to employees and obtained by Business Insider.
This sign reads "clean hands, clean faces, clean hearts."
A sign in a break room informs employees how to stay healthy, though eight workers told Business Insider they don't have adequate cleaning tools and have been prohibited from wearing masks and gloves.
The North Carolina employee said her team was not allowed to wear gloves or masks while working because management told them "it would make customers uncomfortable."
Social distancing barriers have been placed on the ground using tape, in an effort to prevent customers from getting too close to employees.
Here's another attempt at enforcing social distancing using tape.
However, some Hobby Lobby workers said that customers are failing to adhere to social distancing guidelines and missing the tape marks completely.
An Ohio employee said that before their store was shuttered on Wednesday night, a group of three customers scoffed at her for asking that they maintain six feet of distance as she assisted them with a request.
"They repeatedly stood right next to me and when I tried to politely ask them to keep distant, they began threatening to cough and touch me," she said. "I reported it to management and they thought it was funny."
Thin and flimsy "sneeze guards" have been placed at registers, offering minimal barriers between customers and sales associates.
"When we asked the manager how we were supposed to stay 6 feet away from the customer while checking them out, he said that was between us and the customer, but we were not allowed to tell them to back up," an employee in Texas told Business Insider. "Since then they've hung some plastic up at the registers, but everyone is still very uncomfortable with that."
Here's another look at the sneeze guard from behind the register.
Some stores started haphazardly placing informational flyers about the coronavirus on easels in different sections, as pictured here.
Others have made makeshift barriers for entering and exiting in order to curb foot traffic and help maintain a safe distance.
Here's an exit sign for shoppers at a store in Ohio.
Hobby Lobby posted signs on the wall that claim it is enhancing cleaning procedures and equipping employees with hand sanitizer.
"I am required to return to work regardless of the state of the virus," the Texas employee said. "This is absolutely frightening to me."
Here is a cart in an Ohio store before it shut down.
"In an attempt to seem as though we're further following sanitation guidelines they've simply placed a cart with cleaning supplies near the restrooms," an Ohio employee said. "They're still not being sanitized after use."
"We've been told they don't have gloves to provide and the only cleaning equipment given is the same cleaner used for the bathrooms," an employee in Texas wrote in an email.
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