Ohhhh, Please!
SUGERSNAPS:
A few years ago, I applied for a limousine job and managed to get to the last hurdle and I would have been duly employed had the two owners not shoved a Covenant not to Compete under my nose at the last second. This was a job which entailed driving sober folks to Vegas and bringing them back to San Diego fully sloshed; it was not as if I was joining a stem cell research team on the brink of a biochemical breakthrough.
But you wouldn't have known it by the length, breadth and the wording of the covenant which sought to restrict me, as well as all those I came into contact with during my natural life span from ever driving a limo. Needless to say I left that office still unemployed but not before delivering a parting euphemism conjured up ad hoc for "shove your job where the sun, don't shine!"
You see, these days thanks to Apple and Microsoft, any Tom, Dick, and Harry with a $30 business license selling Tamales on street corners comes down with delusions of grandeur and feels compelled to use a word processing template to ham together a business plan which shall include amongst other risible parts a mission statement, profit forecast, and the provisions combating present day employees from becoming future Tamale selling competitors.
My hat off to the judge who laughed out of court the clowns who sued their ex employees who did nothing more than go from one job to another in order to feed and clothe their families and you can rest assured that nothing of any consequences shall befall you should you move on to pastures new.
Like those nobodies who threaten at a drop of a hat to sue all asunder for defamation should you cuss at them, your current employer does not have the slightest idea as to what makes a Covenant not to Compete an iron-clad agreement and they shall go to their graves with the same ignorance.
There are three essential elements that have to be met in order for a non-compete to have any legal effect which are a bit long to get into here and now. Suffice it to say that there are only a handful of careers that are simply mandated to include such contracts as a prerequisite to any offer of employment, and your type of business is not one of them.
So go ahead to your new job without worrying about Tom dick-ing you with a non-compete lawsuit.
fredrikkalw