I quit my job of 5 years in October of last year due to extreme burnout. My boss was emotionally and mentally abusive as well verbally on a few occasions (in fact, one time they threw a pair of scissors in my general direction but could never be sure they meant to be hurling them at me) and I’d just had enough. As miserable as I was in general, things were amiable when I left and I offered to give them as much notice as they needed since I was the sole employee and responsible for the day-to-day of the business. They asked me to finish out the year and I agreed, specifically because I wanted to leave on good terms and avoid them badmouthing me to colleagues in our industry as I had decided to open my own business across the country. They were surprised but didn’t try to talk me into staying and even supported me one day opening my own business and said they’d be supportive. They also mentioned they’d like me to help train anyone they hired to replace me, but made sure to note if the new hire picked things up quickly they would terminate me immediately. I said that was ok, and we could discuss details at a better time. I sent them a formal resignation stating that, per their request, I would be willing to stay on through the end of the year and requested a meeting to discuss any specifics. My goal was to discuss a severance in the event they did terminate me before the end of the year. Instead of agreeing to a meeting, they cornered me a few days later for an impromptu chat and I mentioned that I thought I could open my own business as soon as March of this year and they immediately became hostile and said that made me a competitor. They’re very territorial, so this didn’t surprise me and I told them I understood and I was hoping we could discuss the most appropriate way for me to venture off for my own business without it impeding theirs. I was specifically looking for a list of vendors they would be ok with me working with as I knew no amount of distance would make them comfortable with me working with certain high-earning vendors. They brushed the conversation aside and I didn’t get a chance to speak to them about it again. The following week, on my day off they called to fire me for violating my “no-compete” clause. I was calm and understanding, and glad to have it over with. I mentioned I hoped we could separate on good terms and my boss said “I’ll have to think about that.” I asked him to list the vendors he would absolutely not want me to work with and he said that he preferred I not work with any of them. At this point, I scoffed and pointed out that any Joe Schmoe could open a business across the country and my boss would have no right to restrict who J.S. did business with, and it sounds like I’m at a disadvantage simply for the virtue of having worked for him for 5 years. He agreed and told me I had to “pay my dues”. A few days later, a friend who works for one of my ex-boss’ vendors texted me to let me know my boss had called the owner of the vendor company to say I’d been fired for unprofessional behavior and that he’d be upset if said vendor worked with me once I opened my business. I am imagining he made similar calls to every vendor he works with. I filed for unemployment and got started working on my new business and found a good group of vendors that do not supply my old company. After a month, unemployment said my claim had been challenged by my former employer and I had a phone meeting to explain the situation. I have a family member who works in HR so I was confident in my case as my employer was the “moving party” in my separation from the company and unemployment approved my claim. In the following months, I invested nearly all my savings into the new business and we are close to launch across the country from my old company. After a planning meeting today, I got a letter from unemployment that my former employer is now challenging my claim in court and I might even have to repay my benefits. At this point, I’m so close to launching my own business that all I could do was laugh a little bit and start drinking. There’s no other point to this than to just get this off my chest because this job has caused me so much strife and stress, and honestly compared to others I was very very fortunate. This should not be this way.