Non-Compete Agreements: An Employee Perspective - Ron Hummer

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a result of this, maids are on non-compete agreements. Doesn’t matter that Carol could have made a stupid decision since my mother in law - who was a nasty woman and yes, my wife would agree with me - could have fired Carol and then what would she do. The services would have been suspicious and suddenly, Carol might have a really hard time getting a job through a service again. Of course, that’s not what’s important when it comes to non-compete agreements.

      I knew of a hairdresser who told me that when she owned her own salon, she hired someone. Things seemed to work out well until she found out that this employee went behind her back to her appointment book and gathered all the names of the clients she had along with their phone numbers. Then she left and started calling her clients and telling them that she opened up her own business. Seems idiotic to me since these customers could just tell the woman that they’re not interested in following a hairdresser who has nothing better to do but steal phone numbers from her employer but some people went for this.

      Even more recently, I read of a case on the internet where a salesperson worked in a cleaning supply company. He stole client names and computers with information about his company. Again, idiots like this help non-compete lawyers justify their reasons for non-compete agreements. He was on a five year non-compete agreement.

      You have to be out of your mind to do this. Maybe people like this idiot think property from an employer belongs to them but it might be refreshing for you to go to the website of a law firm that specializes in non-compete agreements. When you do that, you’ll see that they work with law enforcement officials to get the property back. Yes, there is a great chance that you can be arrested for doing this but of course, maybe if you’re stupid enough to believe that you can get away with this because you’re an employee, my feelings are that you should be locked up just on the basis that you’re an idiot and you’re giving even more justification to non-compete lawyers when they say that this is the reason that we have non-compete agreements.

      I caught the end of a report on Good Morning America where they said that a celebrity hairdresser told her clients that she started her own business and went out of her way to steal clients. This led Amy Robach to say that if my colorist left and went to another salon that she would follow her because she does the best job on her hair.

      That led to one of the other commentators - I believe it was Sam Champion - saying that this all enters into the subject of non-compete agreements which can be very difficult.

      So, as a result of all this, we do have non-compete agreements for just about everyone, whether it is hairdressers, dog and cat groomers and maids. Look it up on the Internet if you want under google or youtube. Just type in non-compete agreements and dog groomers and read about a lawsuit in St. Louis where the defendant is asking for money for his legal fees. The Washington Post carried a story on maids and non-compete agreements.

      Yet while this all seems logical and the non-compete lawyers go out of their way to talk about employees having trade secrets and how people can just steal information, it seems to me that as the media would say, there are two sides to a story, although they would not say that since they don’t want to do stories on non-compete agreements and how they hurt employees, unless you live in Massachusetts.

      Chapter 5

      Interview Break

      It’s hard for me to say how to categorize these interviews but in this case, I would say that there are companies that seem to have a desire to interview everyone that sends in a resume. I guess if you have enough time and nothing else to do and you feel that you’re giving a chance to every potential employee, then this might be okay even though this would seem like a waste of time to people like me.

      In my case, since I do have a job, taking an interview means taking a PTO day. My feeling is that if I’m going to be interviewed, the best way for me is to start with a phone interview. I think when you do this, you’re deciding on the best candidates to call into your office. In the end, who am I to complain about this. If I don’t like it, then I shouldn’t be interviewing anywhere but maybe you’ll feel different about this after I tell you what happened.

      This interview started at 10:30. I waited for the human resource person to come in. He started by asking me questions about myself and and what I did for my company. Then he threw this question in.

      “Are you hitting your quota every month?

      I usually get this question all the time. The answer has always been yes but I guess that I don’t see the point of people asking me this question since they are skeptical. In their mind, they say, well, how do I really know that you’re making your quota? Do you have a great poker face? Why should I believe you?

      Not much I can do about this. As you will see, this will come up again in the same interview. People who interview me seem to be under the impression that I’m a liar when it comes to this question because from their point of view, they’re thinking well, why does he want to leave his company then. You’re making your quota every month so why do you want to leave since you have a job already. Yes, why shouldn’t I look for a better opportunity. Just stay in my job until I retire.

      Of course, my answer is not going to be let me prove to you that I’m making my quota. Here. I have all the sales reports from the last year. You see, I’m not only making my quota but exceeding it. Yes, I realize that I can’t do that since that would be stealing information.

      Let’s go back to what I said earlier. Why ask me this question if you’re not going to believe that I will answer it honestly? I have a lot of reasons that I want to leave my company. My salary, that hasn’t been increased in seven years. How about the fact that my commission has been cut to the point where I have lost over $30,000 a year over the past five years. This isn’t due to the economy. This is due to the fact that my employer just wanted to make changes and shuffle my territory, which more than contributed to my loss in income. Sure, I’m losing money but that really doesn’t seem to matter since I have a job and I’m going broke and I have to consider telling my wife that we have to move out of my apartment at some point in order to live in a smaller one. Of course, my company can do whatever they want because they know that I can’t work in my industry due to my non-compete agreement.

      In any case, I can only say so much because as we all know, I don’t want to say anything bad about my company since we know that we’re not supposed to do that. Doesn’t matter that this human resource person will grill me for more information and I’ll end up having to admit this in any case.

      The interview continued and the human resource person said that this is a junior level position and it sounds like I can be considered for it. It will be an inside sales position where I will deal with lawyers. Wonderful news. I should be able to consider taking a $10,000 - $15,000 cut in salary if they want to hire me.

      So, the human resource person leaves and after about another 20 minutes, a a woman walks in. She’s the person that would be my supervisor if I managed to get hired. No reason to ask me any questions since the Vice President of Sales will be coming in next. Let’s just shoot the breeze for another 20 minutes and she can tell me how she met with 50 candidates over the past two weeks and she is exhausted now. Then she is gone and nearly half an hour later, the VP comes in.

      So the questions begin and the first question is why do you like sales so much. Nice question to ask someone who is 21 years old and just graduated from college. Very impressive. I’m twice as old and a few years as well but that really doesn’t matter. I mean, here I am, giving this guy my resume with all the sales that I made along with the types of accounts that I have worked on such as law firms and the fact that I have closed business that has amounted in $50,000 to $100,000 a year if not more and this is the first question. I shouldn’t complain too much since this is a junior level position and I have over 15 years of sales experience.

      The questions continue and here is another great question.

      You’ve been with your company for a long time. Why do you want to leave all of a sudden?

      Yes, why do I want to leave all of a sudden when I have been looking for a job for more than 6 years. Can’t say that though because he’ll wonder

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