What GameStop Workers Think About Their Employer’s Stock Frenzy

The mystifying rise of GameStop’s stock has enthralled the general public, which has eagerly followed the story of a bunch of rambunctious Reddit investors collectively squeezing institutional hedge funds with short positions. An assistant store leader who’s been working for GameStop for five years in Ohio said that store leaders usually make about $15 per hour, while assistant store leaders make $12.50. “If anything, it simply means we’ll lose our jobs faster, because he wants to close the majority of our stores.” An assistant store leader who has been working at GameStop for five years in Oklahoma said that her store leader was initially optimistic that the rising stock “meant good things for us,” and she hoped that it would lead to unfreezing raises, but then everyone at the store started to worry upon discovering why investors were excited about the company. The Oklahoma assistant store leader said that it’s been less busy during the pandemic, and that the store often doesn’t even have the hardware or game products that customers want in stock. The Ohio assistant store leader said that staff at his location has been shutting down conversations about the stock for fear that it will be divisive “like politics or religion.” The Oklahoma senior guest advisor said that a random user asked her about the stock on Instagram after seeing she was an employee, and members of WallStreetBets had been encouraging GameStop employees to buy some of the stock themselves.