I'm on “good terms” with my current employer (a very seedy company) only in that they're on “good terms” with me. Personally and privately, I'm beyond fed up with them. They're an unprofessional, incompetent mess, and I regret having stayed with them so long. I'm burnt out, bled dry, and I can't wait to leave.
Here's the issue. I actually tried to leave them once before, about 3 years ago. My supervisors (plural) were at their unprofessional best when I gave my notice. During those two weeks, they would NOT stop begging me to stay, promising me raises, asking if there was anything they could do, guilt tripping me, the works. They'd call me once or twice a day, begging, promising whatever I wanted. They finally gave a hefty raise/way better offer than the new place (they were underpaying me to a ridiculous point before this), at which point I agreed to stay. Since then I've been wanting to leave as soon as I'm done with grad school, which is happening in about 2 weeks. I'm likely going back to retail for a bit while I figure my life out.
But I don't want new jobs to contact my current employer since I don't want to deal with them catching wind I'm leaving. They're welcome to contact any employer I had before this one…just not this one. Given that my current place of employment is understaffed (par for their course) I don't think they'll take it well if I leave now, or be down to give me a good reference since I'm “leaving them in the lurch.” I can basically guarantee they're going to be pissed.
Does forbidding new employers from contacting past employers screw your chances of getting the job? I don't even want to put in my two weeks at this place given how unprofessional they acted last time. I'm so unwilling to deal with their reaction that I've fantasized about just telling them I got into a car accident and leaving with no notice at all.