Gnome Games Staff has a lot of responsibilities in providing a safe environment and experience for us to work in and our customers to shop and play in, especially so during the COVID-19 situation. July 9, 2020 Update this may change often – check it every shift!

On July 9, 10, 11 – if you check this email Pat. 

We all are aware of the COVID-19 situation that is rapidly developing around us. This document will address the ever-changing company policies and staff responsibilities throughout this situation.

We don’t talk about COVID-19 in front of customers (Online, In Person, over the phone etc)

Our customers are here for a diversion, to have fun, and enjoy their experience. We don’t want to add to their concerns by expressing ours to them or in front of them. So staff is expected to refrain from discussing the disease, the governments response, any political response, or anything else unrelated to the customers in store experience and safety of staff and customers. This is a critical expectation and failure to meet it may mean immediate dismissal.

If a customer engages you in the topic, and asks about our policies share exactly what we have published here – https://gnomegames.com/gnome-games-will-continue-to-bring-fun-to-your-table-despite-covid-19/ Do not embellish, speculate or expand on that in any way.

If they ask about something not covered  or if we are doing something not included in the current policy – do not speculate or guess.  respond with: I’ll look into this, and if appropriate I’ll get back to you.  Then follow up with Pat and your manager

Please take the time to learn about the situation and avoid the pitfalls of biased news and social media. Get your information from the CDC and the Department of Health. If you are sharing information Mangers and I will ask you to share sources. Don’t be offended, we just want to be as best informed as possible.

Protect yourself and staff first.

Your safety and the safety of the rest of our staff and their families are always Gnome Games’ most important consideration. We need to be especially diligent during this situation as our tendency is to ignore our own safety concerns to take care of customers. To ensure that we keep staff safety at the highest level we have the following policies. These are critical safety related policies and continual compliance is expected.

1. Do not allow your activities to present a risk to other staff.
   
   1. Masks are required at all times when there are non-staff in the store.  This isn’t optional for anyone.
   2. Do not come to work if you are sick or fall into a self-quarantine category based on the CDC and Wisconsin Department of Health guidelines. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/symptoms.html
      
   3. Become familiar with the symptoms, and honest with your self-assessment. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/symptoms.html
      
   4. Keep your Distance – don’t work in the same area that any other staff is working in. 10′ distance minimum at all times unless the situation requires otherwise!
   5. Keep cleaning – wipe down register areas every 30 minutes when customers have been in the stores, remember to wipe anything that customers touch, and get door handles as well.   DEEP CLEAN ALL RESTROOMS AFTER EVERY USE – Remember door handles, faucet handles – anything that we touch or breath on. SANITIZE KEYBOARDS BETWEEN USERS – We want to keep keyboards and mouse etc. to one staff, but that’ may not possible at all times – so wipe them down after you are done or before you use them (Yes that means they should get wiped twice between each use) 
      
   6. Make sure customers comply with our policies – be polite but firm. Remember if any customer gives you pushback for asking to comply with our policies it is an immediate call to me and probably a request for police escort out.
      
   7. WASH YOUR HANDS EVERY HOUR OR MORE!
      
      
2. Do not allow other staff to present a risk to you
   
   1. If another staff appears sick let your manager or me know immediately
      
   2. Remind each other about cleaning ensuring customers comply with policies etc. Don’t allow anyone to ignore them
      
   3. Make sure other staff WASHES THEIR HANDS EVERY HOUR!
      
   4. Clean, Clean, Clean
   5. Wash your mask every day – let it air dry at home overnight.
3. Do not put yourself in a situation that places you at risk
   
   1. If you are in a high-risk group you must let your manager and me know privately
      
      1. Do not engage in close contact demos, OP or customer interactions.
         
      2. Keep the counter between you and customers
         
      3. Make sure that you and other staff diligently clean and disinfect
         
      4. Become familiar with the DCD Guidelines for High-Risk
         
   2. CONTACTLESS MEANS CONTACTLESS – No exceptions.  Friends kill friends with COVID19.
      This also means we encourage ccard over the phone or via messenger or email invoice.
   3. Make sure customers understand our policies and stop any unsafe activities immediately NO MASK = NO ENTRY
      
      

Protect the customers

Keeping our customers safe is critical. We’ll have to be especially diligent in cleaning, table space and event management and customer supervision to make sure the opportunity for contamination or other problems is mitigated.

1. Customers must wear masks!
2. Clean, disinfect products when possible
   
   1. Bleach wipe all bags and shrink wrapped games as you bag them and when you set aside for delivery.
   2. Bleach wipe outside of bag when customer arrives for delivery
3. Make sure customers follow the following:
   
   1. Wear a mask
   2. Do not violate social distancing with other customers
4. Make sure you communicate
   1. With other staff
   2. With Customers – expectations for delivery and payment
   3. With managers – remember we need to know what you need, what happens so we can help you help the customer!

Be Flexible and Adapt in a Positive manner

    Our customers will react in the way they see us react. Present a positive face, keep a smile on when you can and enforce our policies all the time and each day they will become more of a status quo. Help each other keep that positive outlook and work together.

We may run out of things. The reality of the situation is that there may be times when we run out of the best cleaning supplies possible. We may substitute bleach or other cleaners until the more desirable less harsh supplies are available again.

Do not mix cleaning supplies or sanitizers This isn’t a good time ofr bucket chemistry science experiments.  Some sanitizers have peroxide, some have chlorine, some have alcohol.  Plus the gel components can make a mess or worse

We may have to change how we do business drastically

This situation will test every one of us and Gnome Games. Our goal is to keep operations as normal as possible, and even improve them as this develops. But the reality is that we will change, and that change may be fast paced and very drastic. I will try to inform everyone using staff contacts as things change, but the reality and pace of the situation may make updates lag significantly behind what we are doing. Please try to understand that and accept it. It’s not intentional, no one is keeping anyone in the dark. If you ever have concerns or questions that are not time sensitive email me and cc your manager.

If it’s a safety concern PM, Skype or call me.

Have Fun

If we can have fun while we handle all this – the company will be better for it, and hopefully so will all the staff.

Answering and responding to telephone messages is a critical part of our daily customer communication operations.

Sometimes the system loses connectivity when there is an interruption in power or data to one of the Ooma Units.

To reset the Ooma system follow the following procedures in order. The phone is an ISP phone so if you don’t have internet your store can not have phone. Open a browser and make sure your computer is on the internet. If it is – continue with troubleshooting. If not the problem is an internet issue and the phones will come back up once the internet is restored.

PLEASE DO THESE STEPS IN ORDER. IF YOUR SYSTEM COMES BACK UP AFTER ANY STEP – DO NOT CONTINUE! YOUR PHONE IS FIXED

1. Make sure that the phone unit is charged. Remember that the handset needs to have power in order to make or receive calls. Look at the handset and make sure that there are battery bars on the display. This problem is easily prevented by putting the phone in the charging cradle on the base unit at the end of the day – every day
2. Make sure that the phone base has power. To easily check this put the handset into the cradle and look for the red charging light in the upper left-hand corner of the hand unit. When there is power to the phone base unit there will be small red light indicating the phone is charging.
3. Make sure the Remote Ooma Unit has a blue light. The remote unit is what receives the call data from the Ooma Router. It is plugged in to the power near the phone base unit. There should be a data cord from this unit to the phone base. If the Ooma unit is displaying an orange or orange and blue split light it needs to be reset. Unplug it from the power source for 2 minutes. Plug it back in. It should flash orange and then blue after about a minute. If the Ooma remote unit doesn’t display any light – check your power source. If this doesn’t work please proceed to step #4.
4. Make sure the Ooma Router has a blue light when it is working properly. Occasionally if there has been an interruption in internet connectivity this may need to be reset. This should not happen very often, and resetting the Oooma router should be done only after doing the previous steps. This should be the last basic troubleshooting step – not the first.

   

   1. Locate the Ooma Router – it is the larger black box as shown below. When it is running properly there should be a blue light as indicated. If the orange light is blinking – it means the pairing with the Remote unit isn’t set up properly. Please repeat step #3. Wait 5 minutes after resetting the remote unit to see if this works. If not proceed with the troubleshooting.
   2. If the light is a solid orange it means that the router to internet connection isn’t set up properly. Then we have to remove the Ooma router from the network. This must be done as follows.
      First unplug the CAT 5 cable from the back of the router.
   3. Second unplug the power from the router.
   4. Wait 5 minutes.
   5. Plug the CAT 5 cable back into the router. Make sure you plug it into the INTERNET slot.
   6. Plug the power back in to the router into the and observe the lights by the CAT 5 plug. They will flash as the router establishes connection and there will be a steady green light when there is an active connection. The front of the router will also have a flashing orange or solid blue light. If it is blue – everything should be good to go.
   7. If it is flashing orange you may have to re-pair the remote unit. Repeat Step 3. This should fix the router – remote unit connectivity issue.

IF and ONLY IF this doesn’t work, please contact Pat and he will determine what the next steps to take are.

Gnome Games Leads and trained staff may to make Single Card Purchases for store credit and cash after certification by Pat or their store lead.

Here are our current maximum rates for Walk In Bulk Card purchases.

ALL Cards must be in near mint condition.
Do not purchase cards that are all bent, white edges etc.

**** YOU MUST COMPLETE THE BUYER FORM BELOW FOR EVERY SINGLE PURCHASE!
Please verify your store budget in the Purchase Report Form below!

Pokemon Bulk Rate (Item 33779 in POS)

(Cards MUST be in Near Mint Condition – NO EXCEPTIONS)
Watch for Counterfeit Cards!!

Magic Bulk Rate (Item 33780 in POS)

(Cards MUST be in Near Mint Condition – NO EXCEPTIONS)
Watch for counterfeit cards!!

Yu Gi Oh Bulk Rate (Item 33781 in POS)

(Cards MUST be in Near Mint Condition – NO EXCEPTIONS)