Pros
Free community brand coffee, tea bags, and hot water. Bring your own cup. Office with AC. It is a paying job.
Cons
Very low pay but just enough to keep the lawyers away. The company is endemically understaffed, so being on exempt status means you can work overtime for free, which is cheaper than hiring another person or paying overtime to non-exempt. Forget about taking off on July 4th, Black Friday, Christmas eve... When the minimum pay increase each year is combined with the increase in health insurance premiums and reduction in benefits (less coverage, higher out of pocket cost), you have a net cut in pay. The executive patrols the office to make sure people arrive early even though the databases have not updated. She also makes sure people are not on their cell phones. On the Fri before hurricane Harvey landed, nobody could leave early, even though it had already started to pour outside. She even patrols on Thanksgiving eve and Christmas eve to call out people who want to leave early. She never complains when people stay late to help the numerous emergencies that arise. HR is an events organizer--football day, sports team day, carnival, Halloween costume, December decoration contest, employee birthdays... For these company events, employees contribute food, decorations, costumes, and other expenses from their own pocket. They don't give you a company phone but want to use your personal phone for company business. Will even call you on your PTO days because they can’t (or don’t want to) read the instructions you provided 3 months ahead of time when requesting the PTO.
