If I do have some employers and non-compete lawyers reading this, I would say that they would probably want to skip this post. After all, there is another side to non-compete agreements and now that we’re getting into the employee side. This is the time for non-compete lawyers and employers to go back in their bubble and think that nothing is wrong.
It seems that there is a conception that employers and non-compete lawyers have about employees. It’s that an employee goes to work and learns new skills. It costs the employer time and money for this and what do they get for their time. At some point, the mean old employee leaves. How dare they, especially after all the time and effort we put into getting them trained. This is the reward we get.
Yes, believe it or not, this is the attitude of the employer. In addition, your non-compete lawyer wants to take this further and say hey, the employee is getting specialized skills. All the more reason to have everyone on a non-compete agreement. Yes, non-compete agreements for waiters and waitresses are coming.
Yet, here is the question that the employer and the non-compete lawyer can’t face. Why do people want to leave? Oh, that’s easy, according to them. It’s money. That greedy employee wants more money and why should we give he or she more money when they already have a job. They should be thankful we even gave them a job in the first place. I guess that’s why my employment lawyer said companies like mine have an attitude that they’re doing you a favor by giving you a job because that is your reward. They don’t have to give you anything else after they fire you. Not even a severance package.
Believe it or not, I would like to stay at my job if I could. I’m sure thousands of people feel the same way. No one likes to look for a job. People can be loyal to their employer. I was loyal to one employer for over 10 years. People would stay as long as you reward them for their work and treat them with respect. The problem is that employers don’t want to do that.
Yes, the truth is that there are lots of reasons why an employee would want to leave a company. Most of the time, it doesn’t have to do with money. Let’s take a look at some examples.
How about abuse in the workplace? It takes place in so many forms. Just imagine being on a non-compete agreement and putting up with an abusive boss and coworker. In fact, my first book, 96 Rocks, is just that. A story about an abusive boss and an abusive co-worker. People have told me that those two characters - Herman Pearson and Tim Harrelson - made them cringe. Well, my answer is I worked with two people that were like that and they made me cringe as well.
It doesn’t always have to be an abusive boss though. How about a quota? We know that it exists. Look at the job openings and they scream the word quotas. It’s frequent now more than ever. Take a look at some of the information that I pulled regarding quotas from some job postings.
Record of exceeding sales quotas
Track record of exceeding performance goals and/or quota
Fully responsible for generating revenue and achieving quotas.
Meet or exceed assigned sales objectives and monthly revenue quotas
Meet monthly/quarterly/annual sales quotas and other metrics
This is a quota carrying position with high expectations
Proven record exceeding revenue quota targets
Know which one I see all the time. Quota carrying position. What is that?
So, why are there quotas? You never heard about them in the 80’s and 90’s. Let’s face it, when you have a non-compete agreement, you can make a quota because if you fire someone, it’s not like they’re going to work for the competitor since the non-compete agreement takes care of that. People would look for a job somewhere else in the industry if there was a quota and no non-compete agreement.
How does a quota work? Let’s take a look at mine even though I did mention it at the beginning of my newest book, The Bachelor Party. I have to get 10 sales a month. If I don’t make it for a month, then I’m on probation. From there, I have to get 40 in four months. If I don’t, then I’m history. Yes, my job, just like others in this country, is month to month. All because the company knows they can do whatever they want because of the non-compete agreement.
There are no exceptions to this quota. Doesn’t matter if I want to take a week off for a vacation. It doesn’t matter if I make over 50 calls a day. It doesn’t matter if I stay late every single night. Those are the rules.
So there is one form of abuse. Now, did you like my story about my manger making his remark when I ordered a Whiskey Sour in front of a group of my coworkers. Just to remind you, he said “What are you, 50 years old and a woman.” I didn’t have to take it personally. There were lots of other remarks that he made to other people. You would see that in 96 Rocks.
He got away with sexually harassing women for over 20 years. One time, when a woman was leaving the company for a new job, he said “a lot of guys are going to miss your hot body.” Yes, then there was the Playboy magazine in the office. “I love things of beauty.” When a woman leaves the office. “Did you see the legs on her?”
Yes, this is very upsetting to women. Check out Fit To Print, the biography of AM Rosenthal. Plenty of abuse in that book. “You may not like me now but you’ll learn to love me.” Calling women kittens.
Here’s a pop question. Who said I don’t get heart attacks, I give heart attacks? Chainsaw Al. Yes, Al Dunlap, former CEO of Sunbeam. Then there was a mutual fund manager yelling at his assistant because she didn’t get his pizza order right. As he said in the WSJ, I’m a passionate man.
Ah, memories. I think the one thing that baffles me is that when they made these non-compete agreements over 15 years ago, did our state and local government even think about this before they threw me and thousands of people like me under the bus? Or are we that naive when we say that abusive bosses don’t exist in the workplace anymore?
It’s certainly an excellent reason to leave. Can’t work in the industry anymore due to the non-compete agreement. People giving quotas like the one I have. Might as well have a gun to your head. I mean, if you’re unemployed, do you really want a job like mine?
None of this is illegal. It happens. The employers know that this is going on. Guess what. Their non-compete lawyers know that this is going on also. You think they care. No. It doesn’t matter. The answer is the same. If an employee isn’t happy with the situation, then he or she can go to court. Of course, the legal fees are over $10,000 and we know the answer to this one already.
Is it any wonder when I get so angry about non-compete agreements. Can you blame me? Not having a right to work in the industry or your chosen profession. Here I am screaming for the government to regulate this.
Here’s a great scene from my book 96 Rocks. This is one where my wife was abused like this by her boss.
Herman picked up the phone as Tim left the room, said “Joan, I need to speak with you. Now.”
Joan walked inside as Tim left, shutting the door behind her. Herman picked up the 10 page sales report and held it up. “What’s wrong with this report?”
“I wanted to check it over again.”
“You checked it over yesterday,” Herman growled. “I’ll ask you again. What’s wrong with this report?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is the logo?”
“I didn’t think you needed...”
“I told you,” Herman broke in, “that I want the logo on the station for every document that I use especially during a sales meeting.” His voice grew louder. “What else is wrong with this report?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is the date?”
“I thought it was at the top.”
“How do I know that you didn’t print the figures from last month. For all I know, you could have printed the wrong report.”
“I’ll check again.”
“You should have checked more carefully. What else is wrong with this report?”
“I don’t know.”
“You misspelled a name. Page 5. It’s Alix with an I. Not an E.
‘ “I’ll fix it.”
“I thought you did this kind of work before.”
She bit her lower lip. “I have.”
“Doesn’t seem that way to me. Correct this report and get it back to me right away. And since we’re having a sales meeting today, I want you to order some pizza.”
“Okay.”
“Where is your pad?”
“On my desk.”
Herman rolled his eyes, looked up at the yellow ceiling. “I’ve told you countless times to bring your pad in here whenever you come in here.” He made two fists, threw them in the air and shook them. “Go out and get it and come back in and I’ll give you the order for the pizza.”
“Fine.” She turned and left the room.
Ah, what the hell. Let’s do one more scene from my book 96 Rocks just for that mutual fund manager.
“Christ. Let’s have some pizza.” Herman stood up, opened the first box, saw that the pizza was covered in mushrooms. Gritting his teeth, he opened the second box, saw that was plain and half sausage. He shook his head, opened the third box, saw that it was plain. He slammed his fist on the table, then stormed out of the conference room and headed over to Joan’s desk.
“I just opened up three boxes of pizza and you know what I found,” he screamed.
“No,” she said nervously.
“No pizza with anchovies and pepperonis.”
“I told them over the phone to put that on one of the pies.”
“Show me your pad with the order I gave you,” Herman shouted.
Joan opened her pad, her hands shook. She showed him the page with the order.
“You read it to them exactly as you have it there,” he yelled.
“Yes, I did,” she replied, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes.
“Did you have them read it back to you.”
“Yes, I did.”
“How many times?”
“Once.”
“Next time, have them read it back twice. No three times. Three times. Do you understand?” he screamed.
“I’ll call them…”
“Why,” Herman interrupted, “so they can take another half an hour to bring me the pizza that should have been here the first time.”
“I’m sorry,”
“Maybe you not concentrating on your work hard enough.”
“I’m doing the best I can.”
“I’m doing the best I can,” he mimicked. “That’s all I ever hear. I’m surrounded by incompetence.” He glared at her, his upper lip twisted. “You better get your act together fast or you’ll wind up cleaning toilets with everyone else in this company.”
She clenched her lips together, continuing to hold back her tears.
Herman turned and went back into the conference room.
Yes, employees have plenty of reasons to leave their employer. Many times, it isn’t always about money. It could be about having your sales territory diminished. it could be about having your commission lowered. Not getting that promotion you deserved. And God forbid, you should get a raise more than once in eight years.
Like I said, everything isn’t cut and dry.
Rick Holman
It seems that there is a conception that employers and non-compete lawyers have about employees. It’s that an employee goes to work and learns new skills. It costs the employer time and money for this and what do they get for their time. At some point, the mean old employee leaves. How dare they, especially after all the time and effort we put into getting them trained. This is the reward we get.
Yes, believe it or not, this is the attitude of the employer. In addition, your non-compete lawyer wants to take this further and say hey, the employee is getting specialized skills. All the more reason to have everyone on a non-compete agreement. Yes, non-compete agreements for waiters and waitresses are coming.
Yet, here is the question that the employer and the non-compete lawyer can’t face. Why do people want to leave? Oh, that’s easy, according to them. It’s money. That greedy employee wants more money and why should we give he or she more money when they already have a job. They should be thankful we even gave them a job in the first place. I guess that’s why my employment lawyer said companies like mine have an attitude that they’re doing you a favor by giving you a job because that is your reward. They don’t have to give you anything else after they fire you. Not even a severance package.
Believe it or not, I would like to stay at my job if I could. I’m sure thousands of people feel the same way. No one likes to look for a job. People can be loyal to their employer. I was loyal to one employer for over 10 years. People would stay as long as you reward them for their work and treat them with respect. The problem is that employers don’t want to do that.
Yes, the truth is that there are lots of reasons why an employee would want to leave a company. Most of the time, it doesn’t have to do with money. Let’s take a look at some examples.
How about abuse in the workplace? It takes place in so many forms. Just imagine being on a non-compete agreement and putting up with an abusive boss and coworker. In fact, my first book, 96 Rocks, is just that. A story about an abusive boss and an abusive co-worker. People have told me that those two characters - Herman Pearson and Tim Harrelson - made them cringe. Well, my answer is I worked with two people that were like that and they made me cringe as well.
It doesn’t always have to be an abusive boss though. How about a quota? We know that it exists. Look at the job openings and they scream the word quotas. It’s frequent now more than ever. Take a look at some of the information that I pulled regarding quotas from some job postings.
Record of exceeding sales quotas
Track record of exceeding performance goals and/or quota
Fully responsible for generating revenue and achieving quotas.
Meet or exceed assigned sales objectives and monthly revenue quotas
Meet monthly/quarterly/annual sales quotas and other metrics
This is a quota carrying position with high expectations
Proven record exceeding revenue quota targets
Know which one I see all the time. Quota carrying position. What is that?
So, why are there quotas? You never heard about them in the 80’s and 90’s. Let’s face it, when you have a non-compete agreement, you can make a quota because if you fire someone, it’s not like they’re going to work for the competitor since the non-compete agreement takes care of that. People would look for a job somewhere else in the industry if there was a quota and no non-compete agreement.
How does a quota work? Let’s take a look at mine even though I did mention it at the beginning of my newest book, The Bachelor Party. I have to get 10 sales a month. If I don’t make it for a month, then I’m on probation. From there, I have to get 40 in four months. If I don’t, then I’m history. Yes, my job, just like others in this country, is month to month. All because the company knows they can do whatever they want because of the non-compete agreement.
There are no exceptions to this quota. Doesn’t matter if I want to take a week off for a vacation. It doesn’t matter if I make over 50 calls a day. It doesn’t matter if I stay late every single night. Those are the rules.
So there is one form of abuse. Now, did you like my story about my manger making his remark when I ordered a Whiskey Sour in front of a group of my coworkers. Just to remind you, he said “What are you, 50 years old and a woman.” I didn’t have to take it personally. There were lots of other remarks that he made to other people. You would see that in 96 Rocks.
He got away with sexually harassing women for over 20 years. One time, when a woman was leaving the company for a new job, he said “a lot of guys are going to miss your hot body.” Yes, then there was the Playboy magazine in the office. “I love things of beauty.” When a woman leaves the office. “Did you see the legs on her?”
Yes, this is very upsetting to women. Check out Fit To Print, the biography of AM Rosenthal. Plenty of abuse in that book. “You may not like me now but you’ll learn to love me.” Calling women kittens.
Here’s a pop question. Who said I don’t get heart attacks, I give heart attacks? Chainsaw Al. Yes, Al Dunlap, former CEO of Sunbeam. Then there was a mutual fund manager yelling at his assistant because she didn’t get his pizza order right. As he said in the WSJ, I’m a passionate man.
Ah, memories. I think the one thing that baffles me is that when they made these non-compete agreements over 15 years ago, did our state and local government even think about this before they threw me and thousands of people like me under the bus? Or are we that naive when we say that abusive bosses don’t exist in the workplace anymore?
It’s certainly an excellent reason to leave. Can’t work in the industry anymore due to the non-compete agreement. People giving quotas like the one I have. Might as well have a gun to your head. I mean, if you’re unemployed, do you really want a job like mine?
None of this is illegal. It happens. The employers know that this is going on. Guess what. Their non-compete lawyers know that this is going on also. You think they care. No. It doesn’t matter. The answer is the same. If an employee isn’t happy with the situation, then he or she can go to court. Of course, the legal fees are over $10,000 and we know the answer to this one already.
Is it any wonder when I get so angry about non-compete agreements. Can you blame me? Not having a right to work in the industry or your chosen profession. Here I am screaming for the government to regulate this.
Here’s a great scene from my book 96 Rocks. This is one where my wife was abused like this by her boss.
Herman picked up the phone as Tim left the room, said “Joan, I need to speak with you. Now.”
Joan walked inside as Tim left, shutting the door behind her. Herman picked up the 10 page sales report and held it up. “What’s wrong with this report?”
“I wanted to check it over again.”
“You checked it over yesterday,” Herman growled. “I’ll ask you again. What’s wrong with this report?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is the logo?”
“I didn’t think you needed...”
“I told you,” Herman broke in, “that I want the logo on the station for every document that I use especially during a sales meeting.” His voice grew louder. “What else is wrong with this report?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is the date?”
“I thought it was at the top.”
“How do I know that you didn’t print the figures from last month. For all I know, you could have printed the wrong report.”
“I’ll check again.”
“You should have checked more carefully. What else is wrong with this report?”
“I don’t know.”
“You misspelled a name. Page 5. It’s Alix with an I. Not an E.
‘ “I’ll fix it.”
“I thought you did this kind of work before.”
She bit her lower lip. “I have.”
“Doesn’t seem that way to me. Correct this report and get it back to me right away. And since we’re having a sales meeting today, I want you to order some pizza.”
“Okay.”
“Where is your pad?”
“On my desk.”
Herman rolled his eyes, looked up at the yellow ceiling. “I’ve told you countless times to bring your pad in here whenever you come in here.” He made two fists, threw them in the air and shook them. “Go out and get it and come back in and I’ll give you the order for the pizza.”
“Fine.” She turned and left the room.
Ah, what the hell. Let’s do one more scene from my book 96 Rocks just for that mutual fund manager.
“Christ. Let’s have some pizza.” Herman stood up, opened the first box, saw that the pizza was covered in mushrooms. Gritting his teeth, he opened the second box, saw that was plain and half sausage. He shook his head, opened the third box, saw that it was plain. He slammed his fist on the table, then stormed out of the conference room and headed over to Joan’s desk.
“I just opened up three boxes of pizza and you know what I found,” he screamed.
“No,” she said nervously.
“No pizza with anchovies and pepperonis.”
“I told them over the phone to put that on one of the pies.”
“Show me your pad with the order I gave you,” Herman shouted.
Joan opened her pad, her hands shook. She showed him the page with the order.
“You read it to them exactly as you have it there,” he yelled.
“Yes, I did,” she replied, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes.
“Did you have them read it back to you.”
“Yes, I did.”
“How many times?”
“Once.”
“Next time, have them read it back twice. No three times. Three times. Do you understand?” he screamed.
“I’ll call them…”
“Why,” Herman interrupted, “so they can take another half an hour to bring me the pizza that should have been here the first time.”
“I’m sorry,”
“Maybe you not concentrating on your work hard enough.”
“I’m doing the best I can.”
“I’m doing the best I can,” he mimicked. “That’s all I ever hear. I’m surrounded by incompetence.” He glared at her, his upper lip twisted. “You better get your act together fast or you’ll wind up cleaning toilets with everyone else in this company.”
She clenched her lips together, continuing to hold back her tears.
Herman turned and went back into the conference room.
Yes, employees have plenty of reasons to leave their employer. Many times, it isn’t always about money. It could be about having your sales territory diminished. it could be about having your commission lowered. Not getting that promotion you deserved. And God forbid, you should get a raise more than once in eight years.
Like I said, everything isn’t cut and dry.
Rick Holman