I’m new to Reddit so forgive my overall ignorance about how things work. I’ve been lurking in this subreddit for a while and thought I’d share my story as the super bowl nears.
We sold our business in 2013 and I needed to find a job. I was in my early 30’s and work in media and marketing which means I create or help create ads and then buy them on various platforms. Those ads can vary from a simple google ad to a super bowl commercial, hence the timing of my post.
I put my resume on LinkedIn and a recruiter called me for a job that he thought would work. It was 2013 and the offer was for $48,000. I was like okay, let’s try it. The job itself was easy, most people didn’t know what they were doing but my boss SUCKED. He was a poor excuse for a human and was trying to date my intern. Put me in super awkward meetings and when she’d leave would ask me wildly inappropriate things. Worse yet he was a PARROT, if I said something, he’d repeat it as if it was his own, never giving me a nod or credit.
After about 18 months I got an offer from another company that was slight competitor. My current company focused on digital media while the new company focused more on traditional TV. What I didn’t realize was when I was hired I ‘signed’ a non-compete. Now, I signed it not understanding what it was (my fault). I didn’t read it, etc, because it was with lots of other documents that you were signing in the onboarding process.
I told my boss that I was putting in my two week notice. Over the time I was with them, they had promoted me, (give me nearly nothing in salary increase, just more title and responsibilities) told me they wanted to build a team around me, etc. they were shocked. The first conversation went fine. Then, my boss pulled me aside in the afternoon and said he wanted to meet with me and the CEO. I knew what it was going to be about. The CEO basically said I couldn’t work from the ‘competitor.’ I smiled and said, I’d like it in writing and then we could chat again once I have an attorney review it.
I went to an employment attorney (that costs $300!!) and he looked at the non-compete and it was crazy. All industries. Covered the entire country, etc. the attorney was frank and said it’s likely unenforceable, however it costs money to fight them.
I went back and told the CEO I was leaving and wasn’t backing down. I also informed the new company of the issue and they dismissed it like it was nothing. I was a ball of nerves and stress and the new company told me they weren’t worried. On top of that, my current employer was a 90 minute drive in a completely different metro area. Now I’d have a 5 minute drive. It was nearly double the pay and almost no commute.
The CEO told me he’d think about it and let me know by the end of the day. At that point, I decided to record every conversation I had with anyone related to my exit. They are located in a one party state. So I could do so and if they didn’t like it, fire me.
The CEO called me in to his office with my slimmy boss and said, okay you can go, but we want 40 HOURS of consulting work from you FOR FREE to compensate us for releasing you from the non-compete. I WAS ENRAGED. I stood up and told him I’d need to the end of the day. Called my attorney and he said, sign it!!! How would it ever be enforced. And how would they measure the time. Get away and they have no power. ‘Work slow’ is what he said basically.
I walked back in and signed it. I was DISGUSTED. I left without saying good bye to the leadership and told myself I’d never answer any of their calls for requests for work.
The story has a wonderful and delicious ending in that while they never reached out to request work (which made no sense to me because why would they request that if they were going to exercise that option) I eventually moved to a job at one of the largest companies in the state. My role involved managing and allocating a massive budget of services which just so happened to include projects that my old employer could bid on. I graciously invited them to apply to bid on a few of the projects we had open. Literally millions of dollars in work.
Did they get that work, I’ll let you guess the answer to that. I hope they spent more than 40 hours responding to the RFPs.
In my spitefulness, I have a calendar reminder to leave them a nasty review on Glassdoor every year around when I left to alert others of their nasty culture.
I’ve never signed another non-compete.
I pay attention to how people leave and how companies and leaders react.
I tell my team that I’ll celebrate your arrival and departure. You need to worry about you.
Enjoy the super bowl!