Sleepy's You're OK only if you play by their rules Bethpage New York

I'm a former IT employee in the Bethpage office. It was the kind of job that sounded great on paper, but the reality was entirely different.

For all of the money they make, the place is run like a mom-and-pop shop, and that attitude starts with the owner and continues downstream to the senior management. From day one, when I was shown the electronic (hand-sensor) time clock I started to wonder about the place. In twenty-five years of professional (IT) work, I have never had to clock in anywhere else. IT jobs begin in the morning and continue until the work is done. Sometimes that's at 5pm, other times it's at 10pm or even later. In the rest of the IT world, we don't get paid to work extra hours and we don't get docked pay if we have to leave by 5pm.

For other IT folks out there, you'll appreciate that the company has no DBA or dedicated network support staff. The IT manager will stay late in the evening at times to update the production databases as necessary. Some of the IT staff is cramped in little office space (which is not uncommon), while others work in a trailer outside the main complex. They have to trudge through bad weather, dirt and mud just to get inside to use the bathroom. Ridiculous.

There's a lot of good folks working in the IT area but Management does a great job of keeping them down and stifling innovation and individuality for the benefit of the company.

My advice for prospective employees: know what you're getting into. I won't say to stay away since nowadays folks need to work and Sleepy's does pay fair wages (I can't speak for non-IT jobs). But it's a painfully difficult environment to work in. I've had bad jobs in my life, but Sleepy's is at the bottom of the list.

Unhappycamper
Bethpage Central Office, New York
U.S.A.